1 


GIFT  OF 


WHY  I  REJECT 

the  "Helping  Hand"  of 

Millennial  Dawn 


By  W.  C.  STEVENS 


. 


Why  I  Reject  the  "Helping  Hand" 
of  Millennial  Dawn 


By  W.  C.  STEVENS 

Late  Principal  of  the  Missionary  Institute, 
NYACK,  N.  Y. 

Copyright,  1915,  by  the  Author 


For  Price,  see  Book  List  at  the  end. 


M.  Q.  McCLINTON  &  CO.,  Printers  and  Publishers 
445  Sacramento  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


CONTENTS 

* 


I.  The  Professed  "Helping  Hand"  7 

II.  "Light  Now  First  Due" 13 

III.  The  Russellized  Bible _  19 

IV.  The  Doctrine  of  Restitution 27 

V.  Doctrine  of  the  Ransom  _  36 

VI.  Gross  Errors  of  This  Doctrine  of  the 

Ransom    45 

VII.  Immortality  and  Resurrection  _  54 

VIII.  Other  False  Teachings  on  the  Ransom 63 

IX.  False  Doctrines  of  the  Millennium  74 

X.  Mr.  Russell's  Pseudo-Christ  88 

XI.  Mr.  Russell's  Manifold  Christ  101 

XII.  Christ  Jesus  Not  a  Present  or  a  Sufficient 

Redeemer    -113 

XIII.  Arraignment  of  Millennial  Dawn 121 


FOREWORD  TO  REVISED  EDITION 

A  former,  relatively  small,  edition  of  this  book, 
which  was  published  four  years  ago  by  the  Christian 
Alliance  Publishing  Co.,  of  New  York  City,  from  a 
series  of  articles  which  the  author  had  furnished  to  the 
Christian  Alliance  Weekly  at  the  urgent  request  of 
its  beloved  Editor,  A.  B.  Simpson,  suffered  the  mis- 
fortune of  having  the  plates  lost.  Advantage,  how- 
ever, results  from  the  necessity  of  preparing  an  en- 
tirely new  edition,  in  the  way  of  opportunity  to  revise 
the  book  and  to  secure  the  most  helpful  testimonial 
of  R.  A.  Torrey,  the  Dean  of  the  Bible  Institute  of 
Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  which  will  be  found  on  a  later  page. 

Furthermore,  it  is  most  timely  and  appropriate  that 
from  San  Francisco  during  the  Exposition,  just  where 
and  when  the  Millennial  Dawn  forces,  posing  under 
the  screen  of  "The  International  Bible  Students'  As- 
sociation," are  concentrating  their  supreme  efforts, 
such  a  treatise  as  the  present  volume  should  be 
promptly  issued  and  widely  circulated.  The  syndi- 
cated sermons  of  their  leader,  "Pastor"  C.  T.  Russell, 
are  being  published  in  about  fifteen  hundred  news- 
papers of  this  and  other  lands,  and  in  four  languages ; 
and  daily  at  the  present  writing  a  two-column  sermon, 
paid  for  at  advertising  rates,  is  appearing,  with  a 
cut  of  Mr.  Russell,  in  each  of  the  great  journals  of 
San  Francisco.  (Two  great  metropolitan  dailies,  the 
Chicago  Tribune  and  the  Chicago  Herald,  have  re- 
cently published  their  refusal  to  give  any  further  pub- 


310431 


licity  to  "Pastor"  Russell's  discourses — not  even  at 
advertising  rates.  This  was  due  to  a  thorough  in- 
vestigation into  Mr.  Russell's  record  and  methods 
and  an  exposure  thereof  in  a  series  of  articles,  similar 
to  the  exposure  of  his  business  record  which  the 
Brooklyn  Eagle  made  several  years  ago.)  This  ex- 
treme activity,  begrudging  no  expense,  is  in  evidence, 
notwithstanding  the  long-standing  prediction  of  Mr. 
Russell  that  "some  time  before  the  end  of  1914  the 
last  member  of  the  divinely  recognized  Church  of 
Christ,  the  'royal  priesthood/  the  'body  of  Christ,'  will 
be  glorified  with  the  Head."  The  following  chapters 
will  show  that  by  this  "divinely  recognized  Church" 
is  meant  only  such  as  follow  Mr.  Russell's  "light." 
It  is  reported  that  but  few  Dawnites  departed  this 
life  last  year.  Consequently,  either  Mr.  Russell  has 
proved  to  be  a  false  prophet  or  few  Dawnites,  himself 
not  excepted,  have  proved  worthy  of  being  "glorified 
with  the  Head." 

While  the  author  professes  to  offer  nothing  in  this 
work  attractive  in  subject  or  edifying  in  matter — so 
repulsive  is  the  real  essence  of  Millennial  Dawnism — 
yet  he  is  strongly  impressed  that  every  true-hearted 
gospel  representative,  especially  the  ministry,  should 
gain  the  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  doctrine  and 
philosophy  of  this  apostate  system  which  this  volume 
alone  affords;  unless  one  prefers  to  undertake  the 
same  severe  task  of  an  exhaustive  first-hand  investiga- 
tion of  a  voluminous,  ill-written,  involved,  illogical 
mass  of  literature,  embracing  many  extensive  volumes, 
the  files  of  the  Watch  Tower  covering  many  years, 


besides  tracts,  sermons,  etc.  Mere  denunciation  of 
Millennial  Dawn,  borrowed  from  however  high  au- 
thority, without  preparation  to  show  forth  adequately 
the  grounds  for  such  denunciation,  will  still  leave 
Satan  free  to  steal  away  from  saving  truth  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  thousands  of  unguarded  souls.  Even 
from  among  Dawnites  themselves  "Wake  Up!"  mes- 
sages have  for  some  time  come  forth  expressing  "fear 
for  the  consequences  of"  Mr.  Russell's  "tampering 
with  the  Word  of  God."  It  is  the  author's  prayer 
that  this  volume  may  be  extensively  circulated  and 
used  to  "wake  up"  gospel  shepherds  to  a  vigilant 
guarding  of  their  flocks  and  many  private  readers 
to  an  intelligent  rejection  of  what  deceitfully  offers 
itself  to  them  as  a  "helping  hand  to  Bible  study." 

In  order  still  more  widely  to  disseminate  warning 
against  this  destructive  heresy,  Chapter  XIII  of  the 
volume,  which  is  a  summary  exhibit  of  the  findings  of 
the  previous  chapters,  is  printed  in  a  separate  tract. 
It  can  not  answer  instead  of  the  entire  volume,  but 
it  will  greatly  aid  in  extending  the  effect  of  the  book. 

W.  C.  STEVENS. 
Oakland,  Cal.,  March  29,  1915. 


PREFATORY  TESTIMONIAL 

I  have  read  with  considerable  care  WHY  I  RE- 
JECT THE  "HELPING  HAND"  OF  MILLEN- 
NIAL DAWN  by  W.  C.  Stevens.  I  consider  it,  tak- 
ing it  all  in  all,  as  the  most  satisfactory  reply  to  Pastor 
Russell  and  his  vagaries  that  there  is  to  put  into  the 
hand  of  the  every-day  Christian  who  has  been  at  all 
troubled  by  the  false  teaching  of  Pastor  Russell. 

Sincerely  yours, 

R.  A.  TORREY, 

Dean  of  the  Bible  Institute  of  Los  Angeles. 
Los  Angeles,  Cal,  March  24,  1915. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  PROFESSED  "HELPING  HAND." 

A  VOLUMINOUS  body  of  literature  has  appeared 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years  which,  through 
the  phraseology  used  by  its  author,  C.  T.  Russell, 
has  long  been  known  as  "Millennial  Dawn"  teaching. 
This  expression  is  employed  because  these  writings 
revolve  about  the  coming  millennial  age.  This  litera- 
ture has  recently  come  to  be  issued  anonymously  by 
-the  "International  Bible  Students'  Association,"  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  The  main  contents  of  these  writings 
are  being  published  in  a  set  of  seven  volumes 
entitled  "Studies  in  the  Scriptures."  They  have 
separate  titles,  but  are  all  prominently  designated 
as  "A  Helping  Hand  for  Bible  Students." 

The  present  writer  became,  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses, sufficiently  familiar  with  this  literature  in  its 
early  days,  as  it  was  deluging  the  Pacific  Coast.  He 
detected  its  peculiar  beguiling  influence,  especially 
upon  Christians  of  "itching  ears."  For  the  sake  of 
guarding  some  such  that  were  under  his  pastoral 
care,  he  read  enough  of  the  publications  to  qualify 
himself,  with  full  and  intelligent  reason,  to  reject  it 
all  and  warn  the  unwary  and  deluded  ones.  He  has 
had  opportunity  to  watch  the  progress  of  this  flood 
of  false  doctrine  over  the  land.  In  no  instance  has 


8  WHY  I  REJECT 

it  failed  to  appear  to  the  writer  that  the  spiritual 
effect  of  this  system  of  doctrine  upon  the  credulous 
reader  is  deplorable.  It  is,  therefore,  with  readiness 
that  he  adds  an  unpretentious  contribution  to  writings 
already  given  out  against  this  heresy. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  enter  into  controversy  with 
doctrines  so  repugnant  in  their  very  nature  and  bold 
expression  that  one's  act  would  be  tantamount  to 
taking  a  dog  by  the  ears.  It  is  proposed  merely  to 
tell  why  a  series  of  books,  which  comes  to  one  almost 
as  a  gift  in  price  and  in  profession  as  "a  helping 
hand"  to  Bible  study,  is  rejected.  Rejected,  not  from 
indifference  to  the  Bible  and  its  study  or  to  the  prac- 
tical benefits  to  be  derived  only  from  constant  and 
deep  study  of  all  Scriptures;  rejected,  not  merely  as 
an  offer  not  "making  good"  its  proffer ;  but  rejected 
as  a  hand  that  defiles  the  pure  waters  of  truth  with 
filth  and  poison. 

One  is  the  more  urged  to  manifest  by  example  and 
personal  reasons  his  rejection  of  such  lying  doctrines 
after  noting  how  widely  this  literature  is  diffused : 

The  copies  now  printed  of  the  first  six  volumes  suc- 
cessively (in  the  inverse  order  of  their  appearance 
at  intervals  of  time)  is  as  follows:  Volume  VI,  en- 
titled "The  New  Creation,"  87,000  copies ;  Volume  V, 
entitled  "The  Atonement  Between  God  and  Man," 
127,000  copies;  Volume  IV,  entitled  "The  Day  of 
Vengeance,"  126,000  copies;  Volume  III,  entitled 
"Thy  Kingdom  Come,"  929,000  copies;  Volume  II, 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  9 

entitled  "The  Time  is  at  Hand,"  945,000  copies ;  Vol- 
ume I,  entitled  "The  Divine  Plan  of  the  Ages,"  4,500,- 
000  copies.*  The  first  volume — the  last  in  the  list 
just  given — an  epitome  of  the  whole  system,  is  pub- 
lished in  fourteen  languages,  and  it  is  issued  in  Eng- 
lish in  pamphlet  form  for  five  cents.  In  attractive 
cloth  binding  these  books  are  sold  at  thirty-five  cents 
per  copy. 

Were  this  literature  a  true  helping  hand  to  Bible 
study,  what  untold  good  might  the  above  figures 
imply!  But,  if  the  present  writer's  view  of  the  bale- 
ful character  of  Mr.  Russell's  teachings  be  at  all  cor- 
rect, we  must  believe  that  this  literature  is  largely 
responsible,  along  with  Christian  Science,  Higher 
Criticism  and  other  heresies  wearing  a  Scriptural  pre- 
tense, for  the  lamentable  spiritual  drift  of  our  day. 

As  has  been  said,  the  first  volume  lays  the  founda- 
tion of  the  doctrines  which  are  more  fully  elaborated 
in  the  succeeding  volumes.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to 
look  carefully  to  what  is  offered  in  this  volume  for 
our  help  in  Bible  study. 

The  first  thing  to  arrest  our  attention  is,  that  cer- 
tain Scriptural  expressions — taken  in  altogether  pre- 
conceived senses — are  used  as  keys  with  which,  by  a 
purely  theoretical  process,  to  construe  the  whole  body 


*A11   these   numbers,   excepting   the   last,   are   five 
years  old. 


10  WHY  I  REJECT 

of  Scripture  and  to  construct  a  "plan"  which  no  one 
would  ever  dream  of  reading  naturally  from  the  Bible. 

This  necessitates  an  absolute  dependence  of  "Bible 
Students"  upon  Mr.  Russell's  writings  for  their  un- 
derstanding of  the  Bible.  Accordingly,  we  find  in 
the  "Watch  Tower,"  the  weekly  journal  of  the  In- 
ternational Association,  a  department  of  "Berean 
Questions  in  Scripture  Studies,"  which  furnishes  a 
course  of  catechetical  drill  in  regular  order  on  each 
volume,  chapter  by  chapter,  page  by  page,  paragraph 
by  paragraph,  point  by  point,  in  fullest  detail.  These 
"Berean  Lessons"  are  to  be  pursued  by  "all  who 
would  merit  the  only  honorary  degree  which  the  So- 
ciety accords,  viz.,  Verbi  Dei  Minister  (V.D.M.), 
which,  translated  into  English,  is  Minister  of  the 
Divine  Word." 

The  extent  to  which  Mr.  Russell  goes  in  binding 
his  followers  to  his  own  writings  is  shown  by  the 
following  quotation  of  his  words  from  his  journal, 
"The  Watch  Tower,"  of  September  15,  1910,  page 
298: 

"If  the  six  volumes  of  Scripture  Studies  are  prac- 
tically the  Bible  topically  arranged,  with  Bible-proofs 
given,  we  might  not  improperly  name  the  volumes — 
the  Bible  in  an  arranged  form.  That  is  to  say,  they 
are  not  merely  comments  on  the  Bible,  but  THEY 
ARE  PRACTICALLY  THE  BIBLE  ITSELF,  since 
there  is  no  desire  to  build  any  doctrine  or  thought 
on  any  individual  preference  or  on  any  individual  wis- 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  11 

dom,  but  to  present  the  entire  matter  on  the  lines 
of  the  Word  of  God.  We,  therefore,  think  it  safe 
to  follow  this  kind  of  reading,  this  kind  of  instruc- 
tion, this  kind  of  Bible  study. 

"Furthermore,  not  only  do  we  find  that  people  can 
not  see  the  Divine  Plan  in  studying  the  Bible  by  itself, 
but  we  see,  also,  that  if  anyone  lays  the  Scripture 
Studies  aside,  even  after  he  has  used  them,  after  he 
has  become  familiar  with  them,  after  he  has  read 
them  for  ten  years — if  he  then  lays  them  aside  and 
ignores  them  and  goes  to  the  Bible  alone,  though 
he  has  understood  the  Bible  for  ten  years,  our  ex- 
perience shows  that  within  two  years  he  goes  INTO 
DARKNESS.  On  the  other  hand,  */  he  had  merely 
read  the  Scripture  Studies  with  their  references,  and 
had  not  read  a  page  of  the  Bible,  as  such,  he  would 
be  in  the  light  at  the  end  of  two  years,  because  he 
would  have  the  light  of  the  Scriptures." 

Let  this  be  taken  in  clearly.  "Scripture  Studies" 
"are  practically  the  Bible  itself."  So  much,  for  the 
sake  of  duping  the  credulous  Bible-lover.  He  who 
"goes  to  the  Bible  alone"  will  within  two  years  go 
"into  darkness."  Whereas  he  who  reads  Scripture 
Studies  alone,  without  a  word  of  the  Bible  directly, 
will  remain  "in  the  light."  The  only  light  for  us, 
then,  is  the  Russellized  Bible.  It  follows  that  there 
never  was  light  before  the  Bible  became  Russellized. 

The  present  writer  believes  he  is  justified  in  re- 
jecting a  "helping  hand"  which  would  forthwith  grip 


12  WHY  I  REJECT 

him  in  this  deadly  vise.  As  the  writer  "goes  to  the 
Bible  alone"  he  is  quickened  and  enlightened  and 
blessed;  the  Word  teaches,  reproves,  corrects  and  in- 
structs him  in  righteousness;  it  even  gives  him  light, 
clear  and  consistent,  on  "the  divine  plan."  But  as 
to  "Scripture  Studies,"  the  writer  found  twenty-five 
years  ago  that  to  read  through  one  volume  was  a  very 
disagreeable  task,  unaccompanied  by  any  light,  quick- 
ening or  blessing.  The  wonder  to  him  was  that  any- 
one at  all  acquainted  with  God  and  His  truth,  at 
all  enlightened  in  the  Scriptures,  could  fail  to  recoil 
with  aversion  after  reading  a  small  part  of  the  work. 
And,  the  writer  confesses,  the  present  reading  of 
these  volumes  affords  no  pleasure  or  profit,  except- 
ing that  one's  testimony  may  keep  some  reader  of 
Millennial  Dawn  literature  from  being  hoodwinked 
and  befogged. 


CHAPTER  II. 
"LIGHT   NOW   FIRST   DUE." 

Mr.  Russell  opens  his  treatise  with  the  claim — which 
runs  as  a  refrain  through  the  whole — that  the  light 
of  God's  Word  is  perceived  only  as  it  becomes  due 
from  stage  to  stage  in  the  course  of  time.  He  thereby 
induces  the  credulous  reader  to  be  prepared  for  any 
"advancing  light" -which  may  be  offered  by  novel  in- 
terpretation of  the  Word,  however  much  in  conflict 
with  all  previous  understanding  it  may  be.  While 
this  has  a  plausible  side,  yet  it  is  a  plea  which  an 
artful  interpreter  can  use  with  an  untaught  reader 
to  a  ruinous  effect.  And  the  extent  to  which  Mr. 
Russell  carries  this  principle  was  the  first  thing  which 
caused  the  writer  to  put  himself  on  guard.  Some 
quotations  will  be  just  to  the  author  and  will  make 
the  point  under  consideration  clearer. 

"It  is  the  light  from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  in 
this  dawning  of  the  Millennial  Day  that  reveals  these 
things  as  'present  truth/  now  due  to  be  appreciated 
by  the  sincere — the  pure  in  heart"  (Vol.  I,  p.  10). 
"The  truth  is  progressive,  shining  more  and  more 
unto  the  perfect  day,  to  those  who  search  for  it  and 
walk  in  the  light  of  it,  while  the  various  creeds  of 
the  various  sects  are  fixed  and  stationary,  and  were 
made  so  centuries  ago."  Accordingly  he  advises  "to 


14  WHY  I  REJECT 

divest  our  minds  of  all  prejudice,  and  to  remember 
that  none  can  know  more  about  the  plans  of  God 
than  He  has  revealed  in  His  Word,  and  that  it  was 
given  to  the  meek  and  lowly  in  heart;  and,  as  such, 
earnestly  and  sincerely  seeking  its  guidance  and  in- 
struction only,  we  shall  by  its  great  Author  be  guided 
to  an  understanding  of  it,  as  it  becomes  due  to  be 
understood,  by  making  use  of  the  various  helps  di- 
vinely provided.  As  an  aid  to  this  class  of  students, 
this  work  is  specially  designed.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  its  references  are  to  Scripture  only,  except  where 
secular  history  may  be  called  in  to  prove  the  fulfill- 
ment of  Scripture  statements.  The  testimony  of 
modern  theologians  has  been  given  no  weight,  and 
that  of  the  so-called  Early  Fathers  has  been  omitted. 
Many  of  them  have  testified  in  harmony  with  thoughts 
herein  expressed,  but  we  believe  it  to  be  a  common 
failing  of  the  present  and  all  times  for  men  to  believe 
certain  doctrines  because  others  did  so,  in  whom  they 
had  confidence.  *  *  *  Truth  seekers  should  empty 
their  vessels  of  the  muddy  waters  of  tradition  and  fill 
them  at  the  fountain  of  truth— God's  Word."  (I, 
pp.  11,  12.) 

"It  is  one  continuous  path,  and  the  one  continuous 
and  increasing  light  is  the  Divine  Record,  illuminating 
as  it  becomes  due"  (p.  21).  "There  are  special  fea- 
tures of  truth  constantly  becoming  due"  (p.  24). 
"True,  we  still  go  back  to  the  words  of  the  prophets 
and  apostles  for  all  knowledge  of  the  present  and 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  15 

the  future;  not,  however,  because  they  always  under- 
stood God's  plans  and  purposes  better  than  we,  but 
because  God  used  them  as  His  mouthpieces  to  com- 
municate to  us,  and  to  all  the  Church  throughout  the 
Christian  Age,  truth  relative  to  His  plans,  as  fast  as 
it  becomes  due"  (p.  26).  Speaking  of  the  Book 
of  Revelation,  he  says:  "Nor  has  that  book  ever 
been,  until  now,  all  that  its  name  implies — an  unfold- 
ing, a  revelation.  So  far  as  the  early  Church  was 
concerned,  probably  none  understood  any  part  of  the 
book.  Even  John,  who  saw  the  visions,  was  probably 
ignorant  of  the  significance  of  what  he  saw.  He  was 
both  a  prophet  and  an  apostle ;  and,  while  as  an  apostle 
he  understood  and  taught  what  was  then  "meat  in 
due  season,"  as  a  prophet  he  uttered  things  which 
would  supply  "meat"  in  seasons  future  for  the  house- 
hold" (p.  27). 

"The  length  and  breadth  and  height  and  depth  of 
the  plan  it  (the  Bible)  unfolds,  gloriously  reflect  the 
divine  character,  hitherto  but  dimly  comprehended, 
but  now  more  clearly  seen  in  the  light  of  the  dawn- 
ing Millennial  Day"  (p.  63).  "By  the  light  now  due 
to  the  household  of  faith,  we  discern  that  system  and 
order  which  mark  the  stately  steppings  of  God  through 
the  ages  past"  (p.  75). 

Thus  we  are  asked  to  brush  aside  everybody  prior 
to  C.  T.  Russell  and  every  doctrinal  system  prior  to  his, 
and  even  apostles  themselves  as  expounders  of  God's 
plans,  on  the  ground  that  much  of  darkness  attaches 


16  WHY  I  REJECT 

to  them  all,  and  what  of  light  is  shed  by  them  is  in- 
cluded in  and  greatly  enhanced  by  "Millennial  Dawn." 
But  this  reasoning  is,  alas,  a  boomerang ;  what  applies 
to  the  past,  applies  to  the  present,  and  what  applies 
to  Luther,  applies  to  C.  T.  Russell;  he  will  be  a 
past  number  tomorrow.  We  had  better  brush  him 
aside  at  once,  lest  tomorrow  we  be  found  believing 
something  behind  the  light  then  due.  This  very  prin- 
ciple logically  closes  the  door  to  our  acceptance  of 
Russell's  teachings,  because  he  is  but  a  mortal  man, 
having  his  little  day,  after  which  the  still  "advancing 
light"  will  leave  this  modern  Lucifer  in  the  shade. 
In  fact,  he  has  already  so  outdistanced  himself  in 
"advancing  light"  that  his  present  teachings  (not  con- 
tained in  the  six  volumes  of  "Scripture  Studies"), 
stamp  his  earlier  utterances  on  the  most  important 
doctrines  of  Scripture  as  "gross  error."  The  writer 
confesses  that  he  is  contrary  enough  not  to  be  in- 
duced to  swallow  without  sharp  scrutiny  the  doctrine 
of  a  man  who  pleads  for  its  acceptance  upon  such 
reasoning. 

No  one  would  question  that  events  prophesied  in 
the  Bible  can  be  more  vividly  comprehended  when 
fulfilled;  but  prophesy  is  not  history  concealed  until 
its  fulfillment,  neither  is  it  meant  to  be  dark  until  it 
catches  the  first  rays  of  its  impending  enactment.  It 
is  rather  described  as  "a  light  in  a  dark  place."  John's 
visions  should  be  called  Mystery,  not  Revelation,  if 
they  depend  upon  the  disclosures  of  Church  History 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  17 

for  their  interpretation.  The  Angel  Gabriel  said  to 
Daniel:  "O  Daniel,  I  am  now  come  forth  to  make 
thee  skilful  of  understanding.  *  *  *  I  am  come 
to  tell  thee.  *  *  *  Consider  the  matter,  and  un- 
derstand the  vision"  (ix.  22,  23).  Daniel  says  "he 
instructed  me."  Jesus  says :  "Your  Father  Abraham 
rejoiced  to  see  My  day ;  and  he  saw  it,  and  was  glad" 
(John  viii.  56).  Surely  Mr.  Russell  is  bold  to  claim 
clearer  insight  into  the  manner  of  Christ's  second 
coming  than  the  three  apostles  who  "were  eye-wit- 
nesses of  His  majesty."  And  yet  Peter  declares  that 
they,  with  their  contemporaneous  fellow-believers,  had 
something  better  than  that,  namely,  "the  more  sure 
word  of  prophecy"  (II  Peter  i.  19). 

But  not  only  does  Mr.  Russell  claim  that  God's 
explicitly  predicted  plans  can  be  but  meagerly  under- 
stood until  some  indefinite  "due  time"  for  light  to 
emerge  from  the  passages  in  question,  but  he  also 
claims  the  same  honor  of  throwing  the  first  important 
light  upon  Scriptures  that  pertain  to  the  essentials 
of  spiritual  experience.  The  same  "light  now  first 
due"  has  been  reserved  for  him  to  give  us  in  regard 
to  the  new  birth,  consecration,  moral  responsibility, 
the  intermediate  state,  and  all  the  rest  that  pertained 
as  intimately  to  generations  long  past  as  to  us  now. 
What  a  pity  those  former  generations  died  without 
this  "helping  hand"! 

But  still,  is  it  not  true  that  we  should  fill  our  vessels 
"at  the  fountain  of  truth — God's  Word?"  Following 


18  WHY  I  REJECT 

the  introductory  part  of  Volume  I,  in  which  the  prin- 
ciple of  advancing  into  the  latest  light  that  is  due 
is  developed,  the  author  enters  at  large  into  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  body  of  Scripture  as  the  inspired 
Word  of  God  and  the  sole  revelation  of  His  great 
plans.  He  also  emphasizes  the  need  of  distinguish- 
ing the  progress  of  the  divine  plans  according  to 
defined  dispensations  and  ages.  But  the  fatal  draw- 
back to  this  otherwise  admirable  disquisition  is,  that 
this  divine  revelation  needs  interpretation  in  light 
now  first  due,  and  no  one  is  recommended  as  an  in- 
terpreter but  our  friend,  Mr.  Russell.  Even  this  were 
not  an  end  to  all  hope,  did  we  not  find  at  once  that 
almost  every  statement  of  the  Book  needs  to  be  para- 
phrased by  this  sole  interpreter  before  its  light  can 
be  discerned. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  RUSSELLIZED  BIBLE. 

While  brushing  aside  all  historic  statements  of  doc- 
trine, in  order  professedly  to  afford  us  an  unbiased 
reading  of  the  unadulterated  Word,  behold,  our  "help- 
ing hand"  forthwith  assumes  to  put  unfamiliar,  arti- 
ficial and  binding  meanings  into  key-words  of  the 
Scripture,  and  then  to  paraphrase  the  text  of  Scrip- 
ture at  pleasure  according  to  these  imported  meanings. 
It  is  thus  that  for  the  first  time,  as  it  is  claimed,  the 
Scriptures  are  completely,  systematically  and  harmoni- 
ously interpreted. 

We  may  cite  some  illustrative  instances  of  this 
method  of  interpretation.  By  importing  into  key- 
words of  Scripture  unsuspected  meanings,  the  author 
most  emphatically  teaches  that  all  the  dead  as  well 
as  the  living  will  first  enter  upon  probation  for  ever- 
lasting life  at  the  opening  of  the  Millennium.  By 
preconceived  construction  of  the  meaning  of  these 
key-words,  he  professes  to  make  this  teaching  plain 
from  the  whole  testimony  of  Scripture.  Every  Scrip- 
ture which  may  hitherto  seem  to  have  yielded  nothing 
in  favor  of  this  doctrine,  even  Scripture  which  has 
been  taken  as  solid  proof  against  this  doctrine,  is  easily- 
made  to  do  service  in  supporting  it  by  simply  para- 
phrasing according  to  the  keys. 


20  WHY  I  REJECT 

For  instance :  "Jesus  Christ  will  be  'the  light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world/  'in 
due  time'"  ("Watch  Tower,"  back  of  front  page, 
under  "To  us  the  Scriptures  clearly  Teach").  That 
is,  Jesus  Christ  has  not  yet  in  any  general  sense  been 
this  light  to  men's  souls,  for  it  will  not  be  "due  time" 
until  the  Millennium,  when  all  mankind  will  be  resur- 
rected to  be  lighted  by  His  presence  in  such  a  way  as 
to  give  them  their  first  fair  opportunity  to  win  ever- 
lasting life.  We  have  been  accustomed  to  think  John 
v.  28,  29  quite  plain  in  meaning.  It  reads:  "Marvel 
not  at  this;  for  the  hour  is  coming  in  the  which  all 
that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  His  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth ;  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  life;  and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the 
resurrection  of  damnation."  But  we  find  that  we 
have  been  taking  this  passage  in  light  ahead  of  "due 
time."  Mr.  Russell  gives  us  the  "meat  in  due  season" 
from  this  passage  thus :  "In  John  v.  28,  29,  a  precious 
promise  for  the  world  of  a  coming  judgment-trial 
for  life  everlasting  is,  by  a  mistranslation,  turned 
into  a  fearful  imprecation.  According  to  the  Greek, 
they  that  have  done  evil — that  have  failed  of  divine 
approval — will  come  forth  unto  resurrection  (raising 
up  to  perfection)  by  judgments,  'stripes,'  'discipline'  *' 
(I,  p.  147).  That  is,  they  that  have  done  evil  (and 
who  has  not?)  will  come  forth  from  death  to  a 
gradual  raising  up  under  millennial  light  and  oppor- 
tunity to  the  original  perfection  of  the  un fallen  Adam ; 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  21 

a  progress  to  perfection  which  will  be  promoted  by 
disciplinary  judgments  or  dealings  of  God,  until  all 
will  be  qualified  to  exercise  a  decisive  moral  choice 
for  themselves  as  to  whether  they  will  henceforth 
behave  properly  under  God's  law. 

Enough  has  been  given  to  indicate  how  the  author 
paves  the  way  for  himself  to  take  with  "helping  hand" 
"Bible  students"  and  lead  them— Whither  ?  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  one  hesitates  to  accept  this  hand?  In- 
deed, is  it  not  a  wonder  that  any  are  found  so  un- 
wary as  to  have  any  confidence  in  a  hand  stretched 
out  in  this  fashion,  even  before  it  is  known  whither 
it  will  lead?  But,  it  will  suitably  conclude  the  present 
chapter  to  quote  quite  freely  the  author's  own  com- 
mendation of  his  work  to  us  all. 

"It  will  be  useless  to  attempt  to  harmonize  the  divine 
plan  herein  set  forth  with  many  previously  held  and 
supposed  to  be  Scriptural,  yet  not  proved  so.  It  will 
be  observed  that  the  divine  plan  is  complete  and  har- 
monious with  itself  in  every  part,  and  that  it  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  character  which  the  Scrip- 
tures ascribe  to  its  great  Author.  It  is  a  marvelous  dis- 
play of  wisdom,  justice,  love  and  power.  It  carries  with 
it  its  own  evidence  of  superhuman  design,  being  be- 
yond the  power  of  human  invention,  and  almost  be- 
yond the  power  of  human  comprehension. 

"Doubtless  questions  will  arise  on  various  points 
inquiring  for  solution  according  to  the  plan  herein 


22  WHY  I  REJECT 

presented.  Careful,  thoughtful  Bible  study  will  settle 
many  of  these  at  once;  and  to  all  we  can  confidently 
say,  No  question  which  you  can  raise  need  go  with- 
out answer  sufficient,  fully  in  harmony  with  the  views 
herein  presented.  Succeeding  volumes  will  elaborate 
the  various  branches  of  this  one  plan,  disclosing  at 
every  step  that  matchless  harmony  of  which  the  truth 
alone  can  boast.  And  be  it  known  that  no  other 
system  of  theology  even  claims,  or  has  ever  attempted, 
to  harmonize  in  itself  each  statement  of  the  Bible; 
yet  nothing  short  of  this  can  we  claim  for  these  views. 
This  harmony  not  only  with  the  Bible,  but  with  the 
divine  character  and  with  sanctified  common  sense, 
must  have  arrested  the  attention  of  the  conscientious 
reader  already  and  filled  him  with  awe,  as  well  as 
with  hope  and  confidence.  It  is  marvelous  indeed, 
yet  just  what  we  should  expect  of  the  TRUTH,  and  of 
God's  infinitely  wise  and  beneficent  plan. 

"If  you  give  diligence  to  the  Word  of  God,  and 
receive  its  truths  into  a  good,  honest,  consecrated 
heart,  it  will  beget  in  you  such  a  love  for  God  and 
His  plan,  and  such  a  desire  to  tell  the  good  tidings, 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  that  it  will  become  the  all- 
absorbing  theme  of  life  thereafter;  and  this  will  not 
only  separate  you  from  the  world  and  from  many 
nominal  Christians,  in  spirit,  but  it  will  lead  to  separa- 
tion from  such  entirely.  They  will  think  you  peculiar 
and  separate  you  from  their  company,  and  you  will 
be  despised  and  counted  a  fool  for  Christ's  sake;  be- 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  23 

cause  they  know  not  us,  even  as  they  knew  not  the 
Lord. 

"Are  you  willing  to  follow  on  to  know  the  Lord 
through  evil  and  through  good  report?  Are  you 
willing  to  forsake  all,  to  follow  as  He  may  lead  you 
by  His  Word? — to  ignore  the  wishes  of  friends,  as 
well  as  your  own  desires?  It  is  hoped  that  many 
of  the  consecrated  ones  who  read  this  volume  may 
by  it  be  so  quickened  to  fresh  zeal  and  fervency  of 
spirit,  through  a  clearer  apprehension  of  the  divine 
plan,  that  they  will  be  able  to  say,  'By  the  grace  of 
God,  I  will  follow  on  to  know  and  serve  the  Lord, 
whatever  be  the  sacrifice  involved.'  Like  the  noble 
Bereans  (Acts  xvii.  n),  let  such  studiously  set  them- 
selves to  prove  what  has  been  presented  in  the  fore- 
going pages.  Prove  it,  not  by  the  conflicting  tradi- 
tions and  creeds  of  men,  but  by  the  only  correct 
and  divinely  authorized  standard — God's  own  Word. 
It  is  to  facilitate  such  investigation  that  we  have  cited 
so  many  Scriptures"  (I,  pp.  347-349). 

How  piously  plausible  this  reads!  But,  we  are 
to  remember  what  Mr.  Russell  means  by  reading 
diligently  and  following  at  all  costs  the  Word  of  God. 
It  simply  means  his  version  of  it,  even  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  Bible  in  any  direct  use,  as  was  shown  in  the 
first  chapter  by  his  own  words.  And  it  means  bondage 
to  a  trickster,  who  can  not  be  relied  upon  to  stand 
true  to  his  own  plausible  expositions.  The  fact  is, 
that  our  "helping  hand"  is  found  to  be  contradicting 


24  WHY  I  REJECT 

its  own  teachings  of  former  years  in  most  vital  points. 
A  quantity  of  evidence  has  reached  the  writer's  hands 
from  former  prominent  followers  of  Mr.  Russell,  by 
which  this  serious  contradiction  of  teaching  is  ex- 
posed explicitly  and  in  startling  light.  The  later 
teaching  has  been  appearing  during  the  last  four  years 
in  the  periodical  of  Millennial  Dawn  teaching,  the 
"Watch  Tower."  Very  cautiously  and  secretly  the 
latest  issue  of  some  of  the  volumes  we  are  examining 
has  been  altered  here  and  there  to  harmonize  with 
the  periodical  mentioned.  As  one  writes:  "Mr.  Rus- 
sell has  made  but  few  changes  in  the  books,  evidently 
fearing  to  do  too  much  at  once." 

As  to  this  change  in  teachings,  so  marked  that  one 
formerly  prominent  as  a  follower  writes :  "Separation 
has  occurred  in  practically  every  country  on  this  globe 
because  of  Mr.  Russell's  perversions  of  Scripture," 
Mr.  Russell  himself,  with  characteristic  duplicity,  ex- 
plains, at  one  time,  that  the  old  teaching  "is  a  part 
of  the  smoke  of  the  dark  ages,  which  we  are  glad 
now  to  wipe  from  our  eyes,"  and,  at  another  time, 
that  the  new  teaching  is  really  the  "elucidation"  of 
the  old. 

And  yet,  to  quote  again  from  a  competent  informant 
from  the  ranks  of  Millennial  Dawnists:  "He  today 
makes  the  presumptuous  claim  of  being  the  'only 
channel'  of  truth,  the  only  one  qualified  and  authorized 
to  interpret  God's  Word.  In  fact,  there  is  such  a 
mass  of  evidence  of  his  spiritual  degeneracy,  that  the 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  25 

question  really  is  as  to  what  to  select  from  the  abun- 
dance of  proof  in  order  to  show  the  digression." 
"Nevertheless,  he  did  not  and  does  not  hesitate  to 
consign  to  'second  death/  'outer  darkness,'  etc.,  any 
who  differ  with  him  on  any  matters." 

It  is  the  opinion  of  the  present  writer,  that  Mr. 
Russell's  claim  that  his  present  teachings  are  but  the 
"elucidation"  of  the  former  ones,  is  really  truer  to 
the  facts.  While  direct  contradiction  in  language  oc- 
curs, yet  nothing  new  in  principle  is  involved.  Much 
that  is  now  boldly  asserted,  which  horrifies  his  former 
followers  "in  practically  every  country  on  this  globe," 
was  from  the  first  seen  by  the  present  writer  to  be 
involved  in  the  accepted  teachings,  and  the  marvel 
was  that  thousands  of  well-meaning  people  could  fall 
into  such  an  evident  pitfall  of  heresy.  And  it  is  our 
opinion  that  there  are  yet  other  things  "up  his  sleeve" 
to  be  in  "due  time"  evolved  as  the  only  logical  con- 
clusions of  the  old  teachings. 

Attention  has  been  called  to  Mr.  Russell's  facility 
in  paraphrasing  Scripture  to  suit  his  theories.  Such 
capricious  and  reckless  juggling  with  Scripture  marks 
the  new  developments  more  than  ever,  and  it  is  serving 
to  "wake  up"  his  followers  to  the  precipice  over  which 
their  leader  is  dangling  them.  The  following  is  quoted 
from  "Wake  Up!  No.  3:"  "Are  not  the  'Watch 
Tower'  readers  filled  with  horror;  are  they  not  well 
nigh  paralyzed  with  fright,  as  they  think  of  the  altera- 
tions that  are  necessary,  and  that  are  deliberately 


26  WHY  I  REJECT 

made  in  the  Words  of  Inspiration,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  made  to  seem  harmonious  with  the  'Watch 
Tower'  teachings  concerning  the  Covenants,  Mediator 
and  Sin  Offering?  Is  not  the  Editor  himself  over- 
whelmed with  FEAR  of  the  consequences  of  his  tam- 
pering with  the  Word  of  God — leading  the  Holy  Spirit, 
instead  of  being  led  by  the  Spirit?" 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  DOCTRINE  OF  RESTITUTION. 

The  next  Scriptural  expression  to  be  mentioned, 
which  Mr.  Russell  constantly  employs  as  a  magic  key 
to  Biblical  doctrine  and  interpretation,  is  the  word 
"restitution."  He  makes  Acts  3:  21  his  great  proof- 
text.  This  reads:  .  (Jesus  Christ)  "Whom  the  heaven 
must  receive  until  the  times  of  restitution  of  all  things, 
which  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  His  holy 
prophets  since  the  world  began." 

It  is  plain  to  see  that  the  extent  and  character  of 
the  restitution  here  spoken  of  is  to  be  ascertained  from 
the  prophets  themselves.  But  Mr.  Russell  has  already 
claimed  to  have  light  "now  due"  far  beyond  what  the 
prophets  had.  He  has  already  claimed  that  no  one 
ever  has  been  able  or  now  is  able  to  understand  the 
divine  plan  of  the  ages  from  the  Bible,  excepting 
by  means  of  this  Russell-light  "now  due."  Hence, 
Mr.  Russell  throws  his  light  upon  this  text  and  de- 
clares that  all  the  prophets  agree  with  it  (of  course, 
as  he  explains  them). 

Accordingly,  this  text  teaches  that  the  Millennium 
is  to  bring  the  restoration  of  all  mankind  and  every- 
thing earthly,  from  Adam  and  from  creation  down, 
to  exactly  the  same  state  as  that  which  was  lost  by 
Adam's  sin. 


28  WHY  I  REJECT 

The  governing  standpoint  in  all  Mr.  Russell's  system 
of  teaching  is  clearly  the  millennial  probation  of  the 
race  as  a  whole  for  everlasting  life.  We  give  a  quota- 
tion or  two.  "It  is  a  blessed  fact  that  free  grace  in 
fullest  measure,  not  merely  for  the  living,  but  for 
those  who  have  died,  is  provided  in  our  Father's  plan 
as  the  blessed  opportunity  of  the  coming  age.  *  *  * 
Those  in  their  graves  have  as  much  interest  in  that 
glorious  reign  of  Messiah  as  those  who  at  that  time 
will  be  less  completely  under  the  bondage  of  corrup- 
tion— death.  *  *  *  We  should  expect  blessings  in 
the  Millennial  age  upon  all  those  in  their  graves, 
as  well  as  upon  those  not  in  them;  and  of  this  we 
will  find  abundant  proof,  as  we  look  further  into  the 
Lord's  testimony  on  the  subject.  It  is  because  of 
God's  plan  for  their  release  that  those  in  the  tomb  are 
called  'prisoners  of  hope!  " 

The  doctrine  is,  that  the  penalty  for  Adam's  dis- 
obedience was  death  in  the  sense  of  the  loss  of  all 
being  and  human  existence.  This  is  considered  a 
penalty  suited  to  the  comparatively  light  offense  of 
Adam.  "It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  God  would  per- 
petuate Adam's  existence  forever  in  torment  for  any 
kind  of  a  sin  which  he  could  commit,  but  especially 
for  the  comparatively  small  offense  of  eating  for- 
bidden fruit"  (I,  p.  159). 

By  virtue  of  this  penalty  of  extinction  of  being 
pronounced  upon  Adam,  all  men  descending  from  him 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  29 

are  born  under  sentence  of  extinction  of  being.  They 
are  born  dying  and  have  simply  existed  in  a  dying 
condition,  some  a  little  longer,  some  a  little  shorter 
time  than  others.  The  Millennium  is  the  time  when 
all  are  again  to  be  given  being,  or  human  existence. 
But  why? 

Here  again  we  must  not  fail  to  agree  with  Mr. 
Russell  on  the  meaning  of  terms.  "None  can  appre- 
ciate this  Scriptural  argument  who  do  not  admit  the 
Scriptural  statement  that  death — extinction  of  being — 
is  the  wages  of  sin.  Those  who  think  of  death  as 
life  in  torment,  not  only  disregard  the  meaning  of 
the  words  death  and  life,  which  are  opposites,  but 
involve  themselves,"  etc.  (I,  pp.  158,  159).  That 
is,  as  the  only  meaning  of  death  is  extinction  of  be- 
ing or  human  existence,  so  the  only  meaning  of  life 
is  being,  or  human  existence. 

Now,  according  to  Mr.  Russell's  key  to  Scripture, 
no  one  had  immortality  by  creation.  It  is  anticipating 
a  little,  but  it  may  here  be  said  that  Mr.  Russell  teaches 
that,  not  only  did  not  Adam  have  immortality  of  be- 
ing by  creation,  but  that  even  Jesus  Christ  did  not 
until  His  resurrection.  "We  learn  that  Jehovah,  who 
alone  possessed  immortality  originally,  has  highly  ex- 
alted his  Son,  our  Lord  Jesus,  to  the  same  divine, 
immortal  nature;  hence,  he  is  now  the  express  image 
of  the  Father's  person"  (Heb.  I.  3).  So  we  read, 
"As  the  Father  hath  life  in  Himself  (God's  definition 


30  WHY  I  REJECT 

of  'immortality' — life  in  himself — independent,  inher- 
ent life),  so  hath  he  given  to  the  Son  to  have,/*/? 
not  drawn  from  other  sources,  nor  dependent  on  cir- 
cumstances, but  in  himself  (John  V.  26).  Since  the 
resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  then,  two  beings  are 
immortal"  (I,  p.  211). 

This,  then,  is  the  sense  of  immortality,  it  is  "a 
synonym  for  divinity"  (I,  p.  208).  Men  in  general 
are  never  to  be  immortal,  having  "inherent  life,"  "an 
exhaustless  supply  of  life  in  ourselves"  (I,  p.  209). 
As  we  shall  later  see,  while  God  only  has  immortality 
originally,  and  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  other  who  has 
immortality  yet — and  He  only  by  virtue  of  His  resur- 
rection— a  few  among  men  are  now  having  oppor- 
tunity under  light  "now  due"  to  obtain  as  a  special 
reward  this  immortality,  this  inherent,  "death-proof" 
existence  in  "the  divine  nature  and  form,"  in  which 
they  will  be  no  longer  "human  beings"  at  all.  This 
is  the  "prize  now  offered,"  "the  only  offer  of  this  age." 
"With  the  end  of  the  Gospel  age,  the  narrow  way 
to  immortality  will  close"  (I,  p.  213). 

For  what,  then,  is  mankind  in  general  to  be  given 
existence  again  in  the  Millennium?  It  is  to  have  their 
"trial  for  everlasting  life."  With  Mr.  Russell  ever- 
lasting life  is  not  a  "new  life  from  above"  within  a 
living  soul,  received  through  being  "born  of  God," 
but  it  is  simply  the  endless  prolonging  of  human  ex- 
istence. Accordingly,  Adam  had  existence,  but  it  was 
not  yet  determined  that  it  should  be  everlasting;  he 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  31 

was  put  on  trial  for  everlasting  existence;  he  failed, 
suffered  extinction  of  human  existence,  and  will  be 
brought  into  existence  again  at  the  Millennium  to  take 
a  new  trial  for  everlasting  human  existence.  But 
Adam  alone  has  had  the  chance  of  winning  everlast- 
ing existence.  "Each  does  not  die  now  for  his  own 
sin,  but  for  Adam's  sin — In  Adam  all  die.  *  *  * 
The  day  in  which  every  man  (who  dies)  shall  die 
for  his  own  sin  only  is  the  Millennial  or  Restitution 
day"  (I,  p.  109). 

"Our  Lord  teaches  that  the  Sodomites  did  not  have 
full  opportunity;  and  he  guarantees  them  such  oppor- 
tunity" (I,  p.  110).  "All  will  sooner  or  later  (in 
God's  'due  time')  have  a  full  opportunity  to  be  re- 
stored to  the  full  standing  that  Adam  enjoyed  before 
he  sinned"  (I,  p.  129).  "No  recovery  from  the 
Adamic  loss  is  yet  accomplished,  though  nearly  two 
thousand  years  have  elapsed  since  our  Lord  died"  (I, 
p.  151).  "If  anyone  chooses  to  call  this  a  'second 
chance,'  let  him  do  so;  it  must  certainly  be  Adam's 
second  chance — but  it  will  be  the  first  individual  op- 
portunity of  his  descendants,  who,  when  born,  were 
already  under  condemnation  to  death.  Call  it  what 
we  please,  the  facts  are  the  same,  viz.:  All  were 
sentenced  to  death  because  of  Adam's  disobedience, 
and  all  will  enjoy  (in  the  Millennial  age)  a  full 
opportunity  to  gain  everlasting  life"  (I,  pp.  130,  131). 

"We  may  well  inquire,  Why  did  God  see  fit  to  take 
away  these  people  without  giving  them  a  chance  of 


32  WHY  I  REJECT 

salvation  through  the  knowledge  of  the  only  name 
whereby  they  can  be  saved?  The  answer  is,  because 
it  was  not  yet  their  due  time.  In  'due  time'  they  will 
be  awakened  from  death  and  brought  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth,  and  thus  blessed  together  with  all  the 
families  of  the  earth,  by  the  promised  'Seed.'  They 
will  then  be  on  trial  for  everlasting  life"  (I,  p.  131). 
To  what  purpose  were  the  six  thousand  years  of 
successive  generations  of  human  beings,  born  under 
sentence  of  death  for  another's  sin,  without  oppor- 
tunity of  gaining  everlasting  life,  and  without  ability 
to  make  a  successful  attempt  had  opportunity  been 
afforded  them?  The  answer  is  ready  and  very  inter- 
esting. 

"God's  plan  has  been  to  give  mankind  a  full  ap- 
preciation of  the  curse,  in  order  that  when  the  blessing 
comes  upon  all  they  may  forever  have  decided  upon 
the  unprofitableness  of  sin"  (I,  p.  168).  "Man,  by 
reason  of  his  present  experience  with  sin  and  its  bitter 
penalty,  will  be  fully  forewarned;  and  when,  as  a 
result  of  the  ransom,  he  is  granted  another,  an  in- 
dividual trial,  under  the  eye  and  control  of  him  who 
so  loved  him  as  to  give  his  life  for  him,  and  who 
would  not  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should 
turn  to  God  and  live,  we  may  be  sure  that  only  the 
wilfully  disobedient  will  receive  the  penalty  of  the 
second  trial.  That  penalty  will  be  the  second  death, 
from  which  there  will  be  no  ransom,  no  release,  be- 
cause there  will  be  no  object  for  another  ransom  or 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  33 

a  further  trial.  All  will  have  fully  seen  and  tasted 
both  good  and  evil;  and  all  will  have  witnessed  and 
experienced  the  goodness  and  love  of  God;  all  will 
have  had  a  full,  fair,  individual  trial  for  life,  under 
most  favorable  conditions.  More  could  not  be  asked, 
and  more  will  not  be  given.  That  trial  will  decide 
forever  who  would  be  righteous  and  holy  under  a 
thousand  trials ;  and  it  will  determine  also  who  would 
be  unjust  and  unholy  and  filthy  still  under  a  thousand 
trials.  The  great  difference  will  be  the  increased 
knowledge.  The  experience  with  evil,  contrasted  with 
the  experience  with  good,  which  will  accrue  to  each 
during  the  trial  of  the  coming  age,  will  constitute 
the  advantage  by  reason  of  which  the  results  of  the 
second  trial  will  differ  so  widely  from  the  results  of 
the  first,  and  on  account  of  which  divine  Wisdom 
and  Love  provided  the  'ransom  for  all/  and  thus  guar- 
anteed to  all  the  blessing  of  a  new  trial." 

"The  ransom  given  does  not  excuse  sin  in  any;  it 
does  not  propose  to  count  sinners  as  saints,  and  usher 
them  thus  into  everlasting  bliss.  It  merely  releases 
the  accepting  sinner  from  the  first  condemnation  and 
its  results,  both  direct  and  indirect,  and  places  him 
again  on  trial  for  life,  in  which  trial  his  own  wilful 
obedience  or  wilful  disobedience  will  decide  whether 
he  may  or  may  not  have  life  everlasting"  (I,  pp.  150, 
152). 

Mr.  Russell  teaches  that  after  men  are  given  ex- 
istence again  in  the  Millennium  and  placed  on  trial 


34  WHY  I  REJECT 

for  life,  they  will  be  gradually  enlightened  and 
strengthened  under  the  favorable  circumstances  then 
surrounding  them,  until  with  full  light  and  ability,  as 
well  as  with  every  helpful  inducement  drawn  from 
former  experience  with  sin  and  its  curse  and  from  the 
later  experience  of  the  good  and  its  rewards,  they 
will  be  prepared  to  make  their  final  decision. 

"The  word  resurrection  (Greek,  anastasis)  signifies 
raising  up.  As  related  to  man,  it  signifies  raising  up 
man  to  that  condition  from  which  he  fell,  to  full  per- 
fection of  manhood — the  thing  lost  through  Adam. 
The  perfection  from  which  our  race  fell  is  the  per- 
fection to  which  they  will  gradually  rise  during  the 
Millennial  age  of  restitution  or  resurrection  (raising 
up).  The  Millennial  age  is  not  only  the  age  of  trial, 
but  also  of  blessing,  and  through  resurrection  or  resti- 
tution to  life  all  that  was  lost  is  to  be  restored  to 
all  who,  when  they  know  and  have  opportunity,  gladly 
obey.  The  process  of  resurrection  will  be  a  gradual 
one,  requiring  the  entire  age  for  its  full  accomplish- 
ment; though  the  mere  awakening  to  a  measure  of 
life  and  consciousness,  as  at  present  enjoyed,  will,  of 
course,  be  a  momentary  work.  Consequently,  it  will 
not  be  until  the  thousand  years  are  finished  that  the 
race  will  have  fully  attained  the  complete  measure 
of  life  lost  in  Adam.  And  since  anything  short  of 
perfect  life  is  a  condition  of  partial  death,  it  follows 
that  it  would  be  strictly  true  to  say  that  'the  rest  of 
the  dead'  will  not  live  again  (will  not  regain  the 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  35 

fulness  of  life  lost)  until  the  thousand  years  of  resti- 
tution and  blessing  are  complete"  (I,  p.  289). 

Space  has  been  given  to  these  quotations,  in  order 
that  the  teachings  on  this  subject  might  speak  suffi- 
ciently to  their  own  condemnation.  Beautiful  they 
may  seem  to  the  rebellious  heart,  encouraging  it  to 
take  full  license,  saying,  "Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for 
tomorrow  we  die";  yet  are  we  entirely  dependent 
upon  a  Russellized  Bible  for  this  shallow,  easily  re- 
futed theory.  Had  we  space  to  controvert  it,  it  would, 
as  said  before,  be  simply  taking  a  dog  by  the  ears, 
as  it  were.  But  whatever  may  need  to  be  said  will 
come  in  more  properly  after  taking  up  in  the  next 
chapter  the  important  point  of  the  "ransom"  by  which 
the  new  trial  for  life  is  obtained  for  man. 


CHAPTER  V. 
DOCTRINE  OF  THE  RANSOM. 

We  will  first  make  an  exhibit  of  Mr.  Russell's  teach- 
ing and  then  give  corresponding  quotations  from  him. 

His  foundation  text  from  Scripture  is  II  Tim.  ii.  6 : 
"Who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all,  to  be  testified 
in  due  time."  The  "due  time"  is  arbitrarily  identified 
with  the  Millennium,  when  the  fact  of  the  ransom's 
having  been  made  will  first  be  "testified,"  or  pro- 
claimed fully.  It  is  claimed  that  this  proclamation 
must  be  made  equally  to  all  for  whom  the  ransom 
was  made.  He  defines  "ransom"  as  "a  corresponding 
price."  By  "corresponding"  he  means,  not  equivalent, 
but  identical,  identical  in  kind,  form,  degree,  manner, 
indeed  in  every  particular.  This  is  rigidly  insisted 
upon,  that  the  ransom  is  an  exact  duplicate,  "offset" 
to  the  penalty.  Christ,  who  "gave  Himself  a  ransom," 
was,  then,  Himself  the  corresponding  price,  or  exact 
offset  to  what  was  lost. 

We  need  to  recall  what  was  lost  according  to  Mr. 
Russell  by  Adam's  sin  of  disobedience.  A  mortal 
creature,  of  conditional  existence,  a  perfect  man, 
Adam,  because  of  an  act  of  disobedience,  lost  favor 
with  God,  lost  his  opportunity  to  gain  by  obedience 
the  reward  of  a  perpetual  continuance  of  his  human 
existence,  lost  his  title  to  earthly  dominion,  and  lost 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  37 

his  very  existence  by  death,  he  suffered  the  "extinction 
of  being."  The  race  of  men  in  Adam's  loins  and  yet 
unborn  shared  necessarily  in  all  this  loss;  but  indi- 
rectly so,  as  they  have  been  born,  not  into  life  proper, 
but  into  a  dying  existence,  and  have  never  had  their 
individual  trial  for  everlasting  life  (existence),  their 
chance  for  favor  with  God  or  their  opportunity  for 
human  perfection  and  earthly  dominion. 

We  are  told  that  the  ransom  must  be  identically  cor- 
responding in  every  particular.  It  must  be  a  living 
but  mortal  creature,  one  who  is  man  only  but  a  per- 
fect man,  the  exact  duplicate  of  Adam,  only  that  he 
maintains  a  perfect  obedience.  This  being,  after  sus- 
taining his  trial  for  obedience  and  its  reward — ever- 
lasting existence  in  human  perfection  and  earthly  do- 
minion— must  give  up  for  Adam  individually  (the 
race  being  indirectly  included)  his  right  to  divine 
favor,  to  everlasting  life,  to  the  propagation  of  a  nat- 
ural human  seed,  to  the  right  of  earthly  dominion  as 
man;  and  he  must,  all  there  is  of  him,  die  just  as 
Adam  is  claimed  to  have  died,  i.e.,  he  must  undergo 
entire  extinction  of  being  or  existence. 

Of  course,  the  person  required  to  pay  this  price 
could  not  be  found  among  human  beings,  because  all 
were  either  dead  already  or  under  sentence.  Hence, 
requisition  was  made  upon  the  higher  order  of  beings, 
the  spirit  beings.  These  beings  are  all  mortal  crea- 
tures, Mr.  Russell  teaches,  but  of  higher  organism 
and  nature  than  man.  Chief  among  them  was  the  Son 


38  WHY  I  REJECT 

of  God,  Himself  a  creature  of  God,  but  superior  in 
rank  to  angels  because  He  was  the  first  and  only 
being  directly  created  by  the  Almighty,  while  all  other 
creatures  were  created  through  Him.  It  was  not 
necessary  to  choose  Him  for  man's  ransom,  but  it 
was  eminently  appropriate,  because  there  was  not  only 
great  testing  in  prospect  but  a  great  reward,  which  it 
would  be  more  fitting  should  come  to  Him. 

But  not  even  the  Son  of  God  while  a  spirit  being 
could  pay  the  ransom  price,  because  that  would  be 
no  more  "a  corresponding  price"  than  the  blood  of 
bulls  or  goats.  Consequently,  the  Son  of  God  under- 
went the  humbling  change  of  nature  by  which  He  for- 
feited all  higher  nature  and  became  perfectly  and  only 
human,  an  exact  duplicate  of  Adam  in  his  pristine 
human  perfection.  His  personal  existence,  not  merely 
His  bodily  life,  was  mortal,  capable  of  extinction  by 
bodily  demise ;  and  His  everlasting  existence  depended 
upon  His  maintaining  obedience  where  Adam  failed. 
His  obedience  had  the  exact  merit  which  obedience 
on  Adam's  part  would  have  had,  but  no  more.  Christ 
not  only  won  the  right  to  everlasting  life  (existence 
in  human  perfection)  by  obedience,  but  passed  exam- 
ination for  the  title  to  the  dominion  of  the  earth  and 
to  the  fatherhood  of  a  race  of  perfect  human  beings  to 
spring  from  His  loins. 

Having  won  back  for  Himself  all  that  Adam  lost 
by  disobedience,  Christ  surrendered  it  all  as  a  ransom 
price  with  which  to  obtain  for  Adam  (and  his  race 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  39 

inclusive)  the  chance  to  try  over  again  under  the 
more  favorable  circumstances  already  described.  That 
Adam  (and  his  race  inclusive)  might  be  brought  back 
into  existence  for  this  millennial  trial,  Christ  gave 
up  His  own  human  and  earthly  existence  in  death. 
Suffering  played  no  part  in  the  ransom;  the  essential 
thing  was  the  extinction  of  His  being  to  ransom  Adam 
(his  race  included)  back  from  extinguished  existence. 
We  must  not  here  fail  to  understand  our  "helping 
hand"  as  to  what  Christ  gave  up  to  death.  "It  took 
all  that  He  had  to  effect  the  purchase,  and  nothing 
was  left"  (Vol.  I,  p.  455).  For  three  days,  accord- 
ingly, the  person  known  in  his  pre-human  existence 
as  the  Son  of  God,  and  in  His  earthly  existence  as 
the  Son  of  Man,  was  non-existent,  as  extinct  in  being 
or  existence  as  are  now  (according  to  Mr.  Russell) 
Adam  and  all  the  dead. 

Moreover,  what  was  laid  down  was  never  taken  up 
again.  That  life  remains  held  in  death,  or  non- 
existence,  as  our  perpetual  ransom  price  due  to  divine 
justice.  His  being  as  a  man  went  out  of  existence 
with  his  expiring  body  and  his  body  has  never  been 
revived,  his  soul  has  never  awakened.  But,  as  a  re- 
ward for  his  sacrifice  for  Adam  and  his  race,  God 
brought  Christ  forth  after  three  days  as  another  be- 
ing, not  human  in  any  sense,  but  a  spirit  being  again, 
only  now  first  in  the  divine  degree  (not  deity),  i.e., 
having  immortality,  made  death-proof,  or  having  "life 
in  Himself."  As  a  further  part  of  His  reward,  Christ 


40  WHY  I  REJECT 

is  to  conduct  the  millennial  trial  of  the  human  race, 
to  bestow  everlasting  life  (existence)  upon  the  finally 
obedient  and  to  send  the  finally  disobedient  into  death 
the  second  time,  from  which  there  is  no  return  to  ex- 
istence. When  He  shall  have  led  the  obedient  to  a 
degree  where  they  can  forever  meet  law  and  justice 
on  their  own  moral  ability,  and  be  competent  of  them- 
selves to  rule  the  world  for  God's  pleasure,  then  Christ 
will  vacate  His  mediatorial  character  and  office. 

Quotations  will  now  be  given  which  will  show  this 
summary  to  be  true  to  the  teachings  of  Mr.  Russell. 
They  will  leave  us,  however,  with  a  desire  to  investi- 
gate further  these  peculiar  teachings  on  the  person 
and  offices  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  latter  exhibit  will  be 
left  for  further  chapters. 

"What  our  Lord  did  for  us,  what  price  He  gave 
on  our  behalf,  what  He  surrendered,  or  laid  down 
in  death,  since  it  was  a  corresponding  price,  a  ransom 
for  all,  should  correspond  exactly  to  whatever  was 
man's  penalty"  (V.  441).  "The  thought,  and  the 
only  thought,  contained  in  it  is  that  as  Adam,  through 
disobedience,  forfeited  his  being,  his  soul,  all  his  rights 
to  life  and  to  earth,  so  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  by 
His  death,  as  a  corresponding  price,  paid  a  full  and 
exact  offset  for  father  Adam's  soul,  or  being,  and, 
in  consequence,  for  all  his  posterity — every  human 
soul — who  shares  in  his  fall  and  in  his  loss"  (V.  428). 
"A  substitute  must  be  of  the  same  nature  as  Adam, 
human  nature ;  the  substitute  must  be  equally  free  from 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  41 

sin,  free  from  the  curse,  free  from  wrath;  similarly 
holy,  similarly  harmless,  similarly  separate  from  sin- 
ners and  from  sin,  similarly  approved  of  God,  as  was 
Adam  before  his  transgression"  (V.  440).  "One  Re- 
deemer was  quite  sufficient  in  the  plan  which  God 
adopted,  because  only  one  had  sinned,  and  only  one 
had  been  condemned.  (Others  shared  in  his  con- 
demnation.) If  the  first  trial  had  been  an  individual 
trial,  and  if  one-half  of  the  race  had  sinned  and  been 
individually  condemned,  it  would  have  required  the 
sacrifice  of  a  redeemer  for  each  condemned  individual. 
One  unforfeited  life  could  redeem  one  forfeited  life, 
but  no  more.  The  one  perfect  man,  the  man  Christ 
Jesus,  who  redeemed  the  fallen  Adam  (and  our  losses 
through  him),  could  not  have  been  a  ransom  (a  cor- 
responding price)  for  all  under  any  other  circum- 
stances. If  we  should  suppose  the  total  number  of 
human  beings  since  Adam  to  be  one  hundred  billions, 
and  that  one-half  of  these  had  sinned,  it  would  require 
all  of  the  fifty  billions  of  obedient,  perfect  men  to  die 
in  order  to  give  a  ransom  (a  corresponding  price)  for 
all  the  fifty  billions  of  transgressors"  (I.  133). 

"Justice  must,  therefore,  demand  the  life  of  another 
as  instead  of  the  life  of  Adam,  before  releasing  Adam 
and  his  race.  And  if  this  penalty  were  paid,  the  whole 
penalty  would  be  paid, — one  sacrifice  for  all,  even  as 
one  sin  involved  all.  The  perfect  Adam,  the  trans- 
gressor, who  was  sentenced,  was  not  an  angel,  nor  an 
archangel,  nor  a  god,  but  a  man.  Strictest  Justice, 


42  WHY  I  REJECT 

therefore,  could  demand  as  his  substitute  neither  more 
nor  less  than  one  of  Adam's  own  kind,  under  similar 
conditions  to  his,  namely,  perfect,  and  free  from  con- 
demnation. None  such  could  be  found  amongst  men, 
all  of  whom  were  of  the  race  of  Adam,  and  therefore 
sharers,  through  heredity,  of  his  penalty  and  degrada- 
tion. Hence  it  was  that  the  necessity  arose  that  one 
from  the  heavenly  courts,  and  of  a  spiritual  nature, 
should  take  upon  him  the  human  nature,  and  then  give 
as  substitute  himself,  a  ransom  for  Adam  and  for  all 
who  lost  life  through  him.  Amongst  the  angels  who 
had  retained  their  first  estate  and  loyalty  to  God,  no 
doubt  there  might  have  been  found  many  who  would 
gladly  have  undertaken  the  accomplishment  of  the  Fa- 
ther's will,  and  to  have  become  man's  ransom  price; 
but,  inasmuch  as  our  Lord  Jesus  was  already  the  first, 
the  chief  in  the  heavenly  Kingdom,  next  to  the  Father, 
the  apqstle  informs  us  that  this  work  of  redemption, 
this  privilege  of  executing  the  divine  will  in  respect 
to  man.  was  given  Him  as  a  mark  of  special  confi- 
dence, and  as  a  favor  because  of  the  honors  which 
according  to  divine  law  must  attach  to  so  great  obedi- 
ence, humility  and  self-sacrifice  (Matt,  xxiii.  12;  James 
iv.  10;  I.  Peter  v.  6).  With  confidence  in  the  Son 
and  desiring  His  attainment  of  the  high  exaltation 
which  would  accrue  as  a  result  of  that  faithfulness,  the 
Father  gave  the  first  opportunity  to  him"  (V.  422-4). 

"As  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  could  never  take 
away  sin,  because  they  were  of  an  inferior  nature,  so 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  43 

the  death  of  angels  or  archangels  could  never  have 
taken  away  Adam's  sin,  nor  become  a  suitable  atone- 
ment sacrifice  for  him,  because  these  were  not  of 
his  nature.  It  was  man's  life  that  had  been  for- 
feited through  sin,  and  only  man's  life  could  be 
accepted  as  the  redemption  price,  the  ransom  price. 
It  was  for  this  cause  that  it  was  necessary  that  our 
Lord  should  leave  the  glory  of  His  pre-human  condi- 
tion, and  humble  Himself,  and  become  a  man,  because 
only  by  becoming  a  man  could  He  give  the  ransom 
price"  (V.  425).  "It  was  absolutely  necessary  that 
He  should  be  a  man — neither  more  nor  less  than  a 
perfect  man.  'As  by  a  man  came  death,  by  a  man  also 
came  the  resurrection  of  the  dead'  [I  Cor.  xv.  21]" 
(V.  95).  Please  note  the  wilful  alterations  of  this 
quotation  to  support  the  blasphemous  doctrine  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  exclusively  human. 

"The  necessary  thing  was  surrender  of  His  inno- 
cent soul  (being)  as  an  offset  or  in  exchange  for  a 
guilty  soul  (being)  whose  existence  was  forfeited 
through  transgression.  Neither  was  it  necessary, 
so  far  as  the  ransom  feature  was  concerned,  that 
our  Lord's  person  should  be  wounded,  and  his  blood 
literally  shed  or  spilled  on  the  ground.  The  penalty 
for  sin  was  death,  the  cessation  of  being,  and  when 
that  was  accomplished  the  penalty  was  met"  (V.  443). 
"The  man  Christ  Jesus  laid  down  all  that  He  had 
for  the  redemption  of  the  man  Adam  and  his  race, 
a  full  corresponding  price,  a  man  for  a  man.  The 


44  WHY  I  REJECT 

race  of  Adam  not  having  been  born  at  the  time  of 
his  transgression,  was  not  directly,  but  indirectly, 
sentenced,  and  consequently  needed  not  to  be  directly, 
but  indirectly  purchased.  An  unborn  seed  in  the  loins 
of  the  man  Christ  Jesus  became  the  offset  or  cor- 
responding price  for  the  seed  of  Adam  unborn  at 
the  time  of  his  transgression.  He  was  put  to  death 
[cessation  of  being]  a  man,  but  was  raised  [after  three 
days  of  absolute  non-existence]  a  spirit  being  of  the 
highest  order  of  the  divine  nature;  having  finished 
the  work  for  which  he  became  a  man,  and  having  per- 
formed the  services  acceptably  to  the  Father,  He  was 
raised  from  the  dea^l  to  exceeding  honor  and  dignity, 
far  above  angels,  principalities  and  powers,  and  every 
name  that  is  named.  Nor  could  our  Lord  have  been 
raised  from  the  dead  a  man,  and  yet  have  left  with 
Justice  our  ransom-price;  in  order  to  the  release  of 
Adam  (and  his  condemned  race)  from  the  sentence  and 
prison-house  of  death,  it  was  necessary,  not  only  that 
the  man  Christ  Jesus  should  die,  but  just  as  necessary 
that  the  man  Christ  Jesus  should  never  live  again, 
should  remain  dead,  should  remain  our  ransom-price 
to  all  eternity.  The  man  Jesus  is  dead,  forever  dead" 
(V.  453,  454). 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GROSS  ERRORS  OF  THIS  DOCTRINE  OF  THE 
RANSOM. 

While,  as  has  been  said,  we  do  not  feel  called  upon 
to  conduct  a  refutation  of  Mr.  Russell's  system  of 
teaching,  which  to  a  candid,  simple-minded  Bible 
reader  plainly  refutes  itself,  yet  we  do  feel  free  to 
give  some  personal  reasons  for  rejecting  such  teach- 
ings, when  they  are  offered  to  us  and  to  others  so 
insistently  as  a  "Helping  Hand  to  Bible  Students." 
We,  therefore,  subjoin  some  points  wherein  we  feel 
plainly  taught  of  the  Word  of  God  to  reject  and  con- 
demn Mr.  Russell's  doctrine  of  the  ransom. 

I.    ONE  SOUL  LEFT  UNRANSOMED. 

We  cannot  forbear  pointing  out  a  ludicrous  over- 
sight on  Mr.  Russell's  part  in  his  application  of  the 
ransom.  It  will  be  remembered  how  urgent  he  is  that 
Christ  as  a  ransom  constitutes  a  corresponding  price 
for  Adam  only  (his  posterity  not  being  individually 
or  directly  condemned),  and  that  one  unforfeited  life  is 
sufficient  to  ransom  but  one  condemned  soul. 

But  there  was  a  second  person,  not  of  Adam's  un- 
born seed  when  he  fell,  who  was  equally  condemned 
for  disobedience,  who  indeed  fell  first  and  led  him  to 


46  WHY  I  REJECT 

his  fall.  That  was  Eve,  "the  mother  of  all  living." 
She  remains,  according  to  Russellism,  unransomed. 
And  we  must  hold  Mr.  Russell  accountable  for  it,  be- 
cause all  that  is  necessary  in  all  these  momentous  con- 
cerns is  his  say-so,  and  it  must  be  so,  whether  the 
Bible,  as  we  would  unsophisticatedly  read  it,  says  so 
or  not.  He  is  able  to  make  the  Bible  accord  with 
"light  now  due."  Remember,  we  can  go  two  years  at 
a  stretch  without  reading  our  Bibles,  only  reading  his 
"Studies,"  and  we  will  remain  "in  the  light"  (of  Mr. 
Russell),  whereas,  if  we  neglect  "Studies,"  we  will 
inside  of  two  years  go  into  darkness  (fortunately  lose 
Mr.  Russell  as  our  light),  no  matter  what  light  we  had 
before  and  no  matter  how  diligently  we  may  read  our 
Bibles  for  ourselves. 

Now,  how  are  we  to  account  for  Mr.  Russell's  leav- 
ing mother  Eve  unransomed  ?  Did  she  not  have  a  soul 
to  be  ransomed?  Was  she  but  "an  error  of  mortal 
mind?"  Forsooth,  she  was  a  suffragette,  and  Mr. 
Russell,  like  Mr.  Asquith,  does  not  wish  to  give  them 
a  "chance  for  everlasting  life"  (existence).  But  then, 
if,  according  to  Mr.  Russell,  restitution  means  return 
at  the  Millennium  to  the  same  human,  earthly  exist- 
ence as  at  the  first,  only  under  more  favorable  condi- 
tions, what  will  Adam  do  in  the  Millennium  without 
Eve  ?  Can  it  be  possible  that  he  will  find  the  Millen- 
nium happier  for  him  without  Eve  than  Eden  was 
with  her?  This  dark  suspicion  Mr.  Russell  has  already 
forestalled.  For,  in  his  ability  to  explain  anything,  he 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  47 

has  given  us  an  explanation  of  Adam's  falling  with 
eyes  wide  open  to  consequences,  which  explanation 
precludes  the  idea  that  Adam  would  rather  rise  again 
without  Eve.  "Adam,  we  are  told,  was  not  deceived 
(I  Tim.  2,  14),  hence  he  must  have  transgressed  with 
a  fuller  realization  of  the  sin,  and  with  the  penalty 
in  view,  knowing  certainly  that  he  must  die.  We  can 
readily  see  what  was  the  temptation  which  impelled 
him  thus  recklessly  to  incur  the  pronounced  penalty. 
Bearing  in  mind  that  they  were  perfect  beings,  in  the 
mental  and  moral  likeness  of  their  Maker,  the  godlike 
element  of  love  was  displayed  with  marked  promi- 
nence by  the  perfect  man  toward  his  beloved  com- 
panion, the  perfect  woman.  Realizing  the  sin  and 
fearing  Eve's  death,  and  thus  his  loss  (and  that  with- 
out hope  of  recovery,  for  no  such  hope  had  been 
given),  Adam,  in  despair,  recklessly  concluded  not  to 
live  without  her.  Deeming  his  own  life  unhappy  and 
worthless  without  her  companionship,  he  wilfully 
shared  her  act  of  disobedience  in  order  to  share  the 
death-penalty  which  he  probably  supposed  rested  upon 
her"  (I,  123). 

But  perhaps  we  can  divine  the  deep  secret  of  Mr. 
Russell's  thought  in  not  providing  ransom  for  Eve. 
Inasmuch  as  she,  as  seen  above,  plunged  Adam  to  his 
reckless  act  of  self-destruction  for  love  of  her,  feeling 
that  he  would  rather  perish  than  exist  without  her, 
it  seems  quite  likely  to  be  Mr.  Russell's  "light  in  due 
time,"  that  Adam  would  recklessly  follow  Eve  again 


48  WHY  I  REJECT 

in  the  Millennial  trial  in  whatever  course  she  chose. 
His  trial  could  be  no  more  unbiased  the  second  time 
than  the  first.  If  she  chose  disobedience  again  and 
went  to  "the  second  death,"  right  along  with  her  he 
would  go  too.  And  would  not  that  be  a  bad  example 
for  millions  of  love-lorn  sons  of  Adam?  We  all  know 
how  blind  love  is,  and  are  we  sure  that  the  experience 
of  evil  in  that  direction,  which  men  are  acquiring  in 
the  present,  will  be  a  security  against  love-madness 
in  the  Millennium?  It  is,  therefore,  clear  that  the 
whole  age  of  the  restitution  would  be  in  danger  of 
worse  disaster  than  came  of  the  first  trial,  if  Eve  were 
ransomed  and  were  allowed  to  get  into  the  Millen- 
nium alive  again.  Surely,  one  ought,  with  eyes  closed 
to  all  tradition,  creed,  private  reason,  Bible  and  all,  to 
clasp  such  a  "helping  hand"  and  yield  oneself  to  be 
blindly  led — whither? 

2.     FALSE  DOCTRINE  OF  LIFE. 

It  is  unscriptural  to  confine  the  term  life  to  mere 
existence,  to  confine  human  life  to  existence  on  the 
earth  in  the  human  body.  The  Scripture  guards 
against  this  error,  both  of  fact  and  of  philosophy,  in 
its  account  of  man's  origin. 

There  are  two  chapters  in  the  record  of  man's  be- 
coming "a  living  soul."  The  first  is  the  account  of  his 
creation  (Gen.  i.  26,  27).  This  presents  man  as  a 
being  brought  into  existence  by  God's  creative  word, 
out  of  no  pre-existing  substance,  and  in  the  likeness 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  49 

of  the  invisible  God.  This,  then,  is  man  in  invisible, 
immaterial  nature,  in  mental,  moral  and  spiritual 
nature — the  image  of  God  who  "is  a  Spirit."  In  Gen. 
ii.  7  is  given  the  account  of  this  man's  being  "formed 
of  the  dust  of  the  ground."  This  is  not  his  creation 
personally,  but  his  formation  physically.  The  very 
words  employed  in  these  two  accounts,  the  words 
"created"  and  "formed,"  are  opposites  in  meaning, 
and  could  not  be  applied  to  man's  origin  in  one  and 
the  same  aspect.  As  has  been  said,  "created"  signifies 
being  produced  out  of  nothing,  while  "formed"  signi- 
fies being  constructed  out  of  prior  substance. 

Man  as  we  see  him  is,  then,  a  being  of  dual  con- 
stitution. In  created  and  essential  constitution  he 
is  a  person  invisible  like  the  invisible  God,  spiritual 
like  God  who  is  a  Spirit.  In  derived  constitution,  in 
material,  external  make-up,  he  is  visible,  corporeal, 
adapted  to  life  amidst  visible  and  material  creation. 
In  this  dual  constitution  man  is  "a  living  soul."  But, 
notice,  "he  became  a  living  soul."  By  virtue  of  bodily 
formation  and  the  breath  of  life  in  his  nostrils  he 
became  a  living  soul.  But  his  original  and  essential 
being  is  not  as  "a  living  soul."  This  is  shown  by  the 
prior  account  of  his  creation  and  by  the  word  "became" 
in  the  account  of  his  material  formation.  Conse- 
quently, man  who  thus  "became  a  living  soul"  ceases 
— not  to  exist,  but — to  be  such  when  the  breath  goes 
out  of  his  nostrils  and  his  material  frame  is  dissolved 
again  into  its  component  dust.  (We  are  not  to  be  un- 


50  WHY  I  REJECT 

derstood  as  implying  that  man  was  "created"  some  time 
before  he  was  "formed"  and  "became  a  living  soul," 
but  only  as  pointing  out  from  Scripture  that  man's 
created  being  does  not  depend  upon  bodily  form  and 
life.) 

Hence,  man  as  "a  living  soul"  is  a  being  combin- 
ing an  "inward  man"  and  an  "outward  man"  (I  Cor. 
iv.  16).  This  passage  shows  that  these  two  aspects 
of  man's  present  visible  being  are  so  distinguishable 
as  to  be  capable  of  undergoing  diametrically  opposite 
experiences  simultaneously.  Yet  it  is  not  the  case 
of  man's  mere  tenantry  in  a  bodily  house.  There  is 
a  living  union  between  spirit  and  flesh,  by  virtue  of 
which  the  inward  man  and  the  outward  man  constitute 
an  integral  personality,  "a  living  soul."  We  may, 
then,  say  that  it  is  rather  the  case  of  a  marvelous 
mode  and  manifestation  of  a  human  being's  existence. 
It  is  a  mode  of  existence,  however,  which  can  be  sus- 
pended without  cessation  of  personal  existence  in  any 
original  and  essential  respect.  While  Scripture  frankly 
says,  "The  body  without  the  spirit  is  dead,"  yet  no- 
where is  it  intimated  that  the  converse  is  true ;  but 
we  have  the  strongest  testimonies  of  Scripture  to 
the  contrary. 

Were  we  to  attempt  to  make  a  complete  inventory 
of  Scriptural  testimonies  to  man's  personal  and  con- 
scious existence  after  death,  we  would  need  a  consid- 
erable volume  to  include  all  the  quotations.  Let  a  few 
serve  rather  as  random  samples.  I  Cor.  xv.  18; 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  51 

"Then  they  also  which  are  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are 
perished."  Of  course,  that  is  just  what  is  here  de- 
nied. Phil.  i.  21 :  "For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to 
die  is  gain,"  i.  e.,  more  of  Christ.  Accordingly  Paul 
adds,  vs.  23 :  "For  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  having 
a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ;  which  is 
far  better."  That  this  means  immediate,  and  not  in- 
definitely future,  gain  is  evident  from  the  next  verse, 
"Nevertheless  to  abide  in  the  flesh  is  more  needful 
for  you."  If  dying  had  been  to  Paul's  view  the  inter- 
ruption of  enjoyable  existence,  he  would  have  been  in 
no  "strait  betwixt  two;"  he  would  have  preferred  "to 
abide  in  the  flesh,"  especially  as  it  was  "more  needful" 
for  the  Philippians.  Then  the  expression,  "to  abide 
in  the  flesh,"  implies  that  the  body  was  an  abiding 
place  which  one  could  vacate  and  take  personal  resi- 
dence elsewhere.  Agreeably  to  this,  Paul  expresses 
himself  in  II  Cor.  v.  6, 8,  9.  "Whilst  we  are  at  home 
in  the  body,  we  are  absent  from  the  Lord"  (i.e.,  "by 
sight,"  vs.  7)  :  "We  are  *  *  *  willing  rather  to 
be  absent  from  the  body,  and  present  with  the  Lord. 
Wherefore  we  labor,  that,  whether  present  or  absent, 
we  may  be  accepted  of  Him."  Of  course,  theorists 
deceitfully  set  these  testimonies  aside  by  misconstruc- 
tions of  them  to  suit  their  theories.  No  wonder  Mr. 
Russell  prefers  to  have  Bible  students  read  their 
Bibles,  if  at  all,  only  by  the  light  of  his  "Studies." 
The  passages  already  cited  might  be  multiplied  in- 
definitely. These  are  sufficient  for  present  purposes. 


52  WHY  I  REJECT 

And  Jesus  gives  us  the  philosophy  of  this  right  doc- 
trine of  life,  when  He  rebukes  the  Sadducees  for  their 
materialistic  view  of  human  existence.  In  Luke  xx.  37, 
38  we  read:  "Now  that  the  dead  are  raised,  even 
Moses  showed  at  the  bush,  when  he  calleth  the  Lord 
the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the 
God  of  Jacob.  For  He  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead, 
but  of  the  living;  for  all  live  unto  Him."  The  mean- 
ing is  easily  discerned.  The  Sadducees  denied  all 
disembodied  existence.  They,  therefore,  called  man 
"dead"  after  expiring  physically,  dead  in  the  sense 
of  "extinction  of  being/'  On  that  ground  they 
denied  the  possibility  of  resurrection.  Jesus  here 
argues  that  God,  by  declaring  Himself  to  Moses  to  be 
the  God  of  deceased  patriarchs,  bore  testimony  to  their 
uninterrupted  personal  existence,  because  He  could  not 
call  Himself  the  God  of  extinct  beings.  So  Jesus  con- 
cludes, "All  live,"  i.e.,  are  living,  "unto  Him."  Living, 
personal  human  relations  to  God  are  uninterrupted 
and  unchanged  by  bodily  dissolution. 

3.      THE  FALSE  DOCTRINE  OF  DEATH 

We  now  come  to  consider  Mr.  Russell's  false  doc- 
trine of  death.  He  relates  death  only  to  bodily  exist- 
ence and  allows  no  spiritual  significance  to  the  term. 
He  strenuously  maintains  that  death  as  "the  wages  of 
sin"  has  the  sole  meaning  of  "extinction  of  being"  by 
bodily  dissolution.  Accordingly,  while  God  had  de- 
clared that  Adam  should  die  in  the  day  he  disobeyed 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  53 

the  commandment,  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Russell 
says,  Adam  was  nearly  a  thousand  years  in  dying.  But 
we  prefer  to  take  the  God  of  truth  on  His  own  state- 
ment. Adam  did  die,  not  only  on  the  day  but  at  the 
very  moment  he  disobeyed.  For  he  thereby  cut  him- 
self off  instantly  in  his  essential  personal  life,  his  moral 
and  spiritual  life,  from  God  as  his  fountain  of  true  life. 
Life,  in  the  Scriptural  sense,  does  not  consist  with  man 
either  in  mere  physical  or  even  in  mere  personal  exist- 
ence, but  in  the  existence  in  spiritual  union  with  God. 
As  soon  as  man  disobeyed  God,  he  ceased  to  drink 
"of  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life"  and  began  to 
draw  moral  and  spiritual  currents  from  the  "lake  of 
fire."  This  latter  mode  of  moral  and  spiritual  exist- 
ence the  Scriptures  call  "death."  Accordingly,  "He 
that  hath  the  Son  hath  life;  and  he  that  hath  not  the 
Son  hath  not  life"  (I.  John  v.  12).  This  clearly  im- 
plies that  such  an  one  is  living  and  yet  is  devoid  of 
"life  indeed."  Many  other  like  passages  might  be 
quoted.  For  instance,  John  iii.  36:  "He  that  be- 
lieveth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life:  and  he  that 
believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life ;  but  the  wrath 
of  God  abideth  on  him."  One  is,  then,  dead  and  hope- 
lessly so  upon  whom  the  wrath  of  God  finally  rests. 
But  the  state  of  death  is  not  one  of  extinction  of  being, 
but  of  the  suffering  of  divine  wrath.  This  is  "the 
wages  of  sin."  To  confine  the  wages  of  sin  to  bodily 
death  is  to  ignore  the  primary  penalty  for  a  secondary 
consequence.  But  more  of  this  later. 


CHAPTER  VII 
IMMORTALITY  AND  RESURRECTION 

1.      THE    DENIAL    OF    MAN'S    IMMORTALITY    ANSWERED. 

The  truth  of  man's  essential  immortality  has  already 
been  implied  by  us.  Mr.  Russell  attributes  immortal- 
ity to  the  Almighty  alone,  only  that,  since  His  resur- 
rection, Jesus  Christ  has  been  given  immortality  as 
a  reward  for  his  death.  Mr.  Russell  identifies  immor- 
tality with  divine  nature,  and  places  it  beyond  the 
reach  of  all  except  Christ — on  this  side  of  His  resur- 
rection—and the  "little  flock"  (of  Russellites— to  be 
shown  later). 

But  man's  immaterial  being  is  immortal.  It  is  such 
because  of  being  created  in  the  likeness  of  the  im- 
mortal God.  He  who  created  could  annihilate;  but 
He  has  nowhere  even  threatened  annihilation.  Other- 
wise there  is  no  possible  cessation  of  personal  exist- 
ence. God  created  man  for  endless  existence,  and  He 
has  never  put  man  on  trial  for  everlasting  life  in  the 
sense  of  endless  prolonging  of  mere  existence.  All 
the  Scriptures  commonly  quoted  to  prove  human  per- 
ishability relate  to  man  on  the  "outward"  side.  There 
is  a  mortal  side  to  fallen  man,  but  it  is  only  the  ex- 
ternal, the  bodily  side,  the  "clothing"  that  is  divested 
at  natural  death. 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  55 

This  is  made  clear  by  II  Cor.  1.  1-6:  "For  we 
know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  Even  with- 
out going  into  niceties  of  translation,  we  see  clearly 
that  the  point  here  is  not  that  of  man's  personal  dis- 
solution but  of  the  dissolution  of  his  tabernacle  of 
earthly  residence ;  and  it  is  not  that  of  his  being  given 
personal  existence  again,  but  of  his  being  given  an 
habitation  again  which  shall  not  be  liable  to  disso- 
lution. "For  in  this"  ("house,"  of  the  present  body) 
"we  groan,  earnestly  desiring  to  be  clothed  upon  with 
our  house  which  is  from  heaven,  if  so  be  that  being 
clothed  we  shall  not  be  found  naked."  Here  the  same 
distinction  between  personality  and  place  of  residence 
is  maintained,  only  here  the  "house"  is  also  called 
"clothing,"  and  the  idea  is  introduced  that,  although 
we  are  kept  "groaning"  while  in  the  present  bodily 
house,  yet,  in  our  longing  for  release,  it  is  with  earnest 
desire  for  the  final  heavenly  embodiment  and  with  an 
instinctive  shrinking  from  being  "found  naked,"  i.e., 
unembodied.  But  what  difference  would  it  make  to 
be  "found  naked"  if  there  were  no  personality?  Ex- 
tinct beings  could  not  be  called  naked,  and  they  could 
not  experience  either  shame  or  lack  of  satisfaction  at 
being  in  such  a  state.  "For  we  that  are  in  this  taber- 
nacle do  groan,  being  burdened ;  not  for  that  we  would 
be  unclothed,  but  clothed  upon,  that  mortality  might 
be  swallowed  up  of  life."  The  same  thoughts  are  here 


56  WHY  I  REJECT 

carried  along,  and  the  further  idea  is  introduced  of 
our  present  mortality,  or  body  now  mortal,  being 
"swallowed  up  of  life."  Oh,  what  a  prospect!  How 
the  spirit  of  man  chafes  under  the  mortality  of  body ! 
And  yet  at  the  same  time,  we  instinctively  cling  to  the 
body.  Now  comes  the  assurance  that  our  body  is  to 
be  made  one  in  life  with  the  spirit,  and  what  is  now 
mortal  of  us  is  to  be  engulfed  in  immortality.  It  is 
clear  that,  while  man  was  at  first  "formed  *  *  * 
of  the  dust  of  the  ground"  and,  hence,  could  be  dis- 
solved as  to  body  into  dust  again,  yet  he  was  designed 
ultimately  to  be  "formed"  anew  bodily  in  oneness  of 
imperishable  existence  with  his  spirit. 

To  continue  with  the  passage  being  quoted — "Now 
He  that  hath  wrought  us  for  the  self-same  thing 
[bodily  immortality]  is  God,  who  also  hath  given  us 
the  earnest  [first  instalment,  the  foretaste,  of  bodily 
immortality]  of  the  Spirit."  That  is,  there  is  for  us 
here  and  now  a  foretaste  through  the  Spirit  of  coming 
bodily  immortality.  How  so?  The  answer  is  at  hand 
for  such  of  us  as  have  experienced  the  quickening  of 
the  mortal  body  by  the  indwelling  Spirit  (Rom.  viii. 
2),  for  such  of  us  as  have  experienced  miraculous 
reversal  of  the  sentence  of  death  in  our  bodies  (II 
Cor.  i.  9,  10).  Some  of  us  are  fully  cognizant  of 
what  it  means  physically  to  "have  tasted  *  *  * 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  come"  (Heb.  vi.  5). 
This  is  the  real  glory  of  "divine  healing"  and  of  "the 
life  of  Jesus  in  our  mortal  flesh"  (I  Cor.  iv.  2). 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  57 

We  are  not  attempting  any  extended  proof  of  im- 
mortality or  refutation  of  the  contrary  doctrine,  but 
only  to  give  enough  of  our  own  personal  reading  of 
Scripture  to  show  why  we  reject  the  teachings  we 
are  considering  as  heretical,  and  to  give  enough  read- 
ing of  Scripture  in  its  original  light,  in  preference  to 
"light  now  first  due,"  to  help  some  disingenuous  one 
to  see  for  himself  the  teaching  of  the  Word. 

But  we  will  cite  one  more  passage,  chiefly  because 
it  is  commonly  relied  upon  as  a  strong  support  to  the 
doctrine  of  "conditional  immortality."  The  error  here, 
as  elsewhere  generally,  is  that  the  passage  is  taken 
only  in  part,  and  consequently  the  whole  teaching  is 
missed.  We  refer  to  Eccles.  iii.  19-21:  "For  that 
which  befalleth  the  sons  of  men  befalleth  beasts ;  even 
one  thing  befalleth  them:  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth 
the  other ;  yea,  they  have  all  one  breath ;  so  that  a  man 
hath  no  pre-eminence  above  a  beast:  for  all  is  vanity. 
All  go  unto  one  place;  all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn 
to  dust  again."  Suppose  the  Word  stopped  there  and 
that  we  had  no  further  testimony  elsewhere  in  the 
Bible.  We  would  certainly  be  left  to  understand  that 
death  ended  all  for  man  the  same  as  for  the  beast, 
that  man's  personality  was  as  much  wrapped  up  indis- 
solubly  with  his  physical  existence  as  the  beast's.  But 
we  read  further :  "Who  knoweth-  the  spirit  of  man 
that  goeth  upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast  that 
goeth  downward  to  the  earth?"  Could  it  be  made 
clearer,  that  man  is  separable  from  his  body  and  free 


58  WHY  I  REJECT 

to  continue  in  personal  existence  in  original  invisible 
being,  returning  in  personal  spirit  to  God  who  gave 
him  by  creation  such  an  indestructible  being? 

2.  ERRORS  IN  MR.  RUSSELI/S  DOCTRINE  OF  RESURRECTION. 

The  foregoing  brings  us  right  to  the  matter  of  resur- 
rection and  why  we  have  to  reject  Mr.  Russell  again 
most  decidedly  as  our  "helping  hand."  His  doctrine 
of  resurrection  involves  both  absurdity  and  impossi- 
bility. It  is  absurd  and  impossible  for  an  extinct  being 
to  be  resurrected.  That  is  an  axiomatic  truth,  intui- 
tively perceived.  It  needs  no  argument.  You  can 
awaken  a  sleeping  person,  but  you  cannot  awaken  an 
extinct  being.  A  beast  cannot  be  resurrected  just  be- 
cause "the  spirit  of  the  beast  *  *  *  goeth  down- 
ward to  the  earth."  Its  spirit  is  extinct  and  cannot 
come  again  into  body.  There  is  nothing  to  come.  A 
new  creature  could  be  called  into  being  by  God,  but, 
no  matter  how  apparently  identical  with  the  prior  crea- 
ture, there  would  be  no  sort  of  identity  between  them. 

On  Mr.  Russell's  theory  of  death  as  the  extinction 
of  a  man's  life,  there  can  be  no  renewal  of  his  existence. 
There  is  nothing  to  awaken.  To  produce  a  being 
exactly  alike  in  every  way  would  still  not  be  an  awak- 
ening, a  resurrection,  a  renewed  existence.  It  would 
be  a  new  creation,  another  being.  There  could  be  no 
connection  of  personal  identity,  consciousness  or  recol- 
lection. When  Jesus  raised  Lazarus  He  called  to  a 
living  person  to  come  forth  again,  even  in  his  mortal 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  59 

body.  We  also  read  in  Luke  viii.  54,  55:  "And  He 
put  them  all  out,  and  took  her  by  the  hand,  and  called, 
saying,  Maid,  arise.  And  her  spirit  came  again,  and 
she  arose  straightway."  It  was  this  spirit  that  Jesus 
addressed  as  the  "maid."  It  was  the  maid  that  "came 
again"  in  spirit  into  her  body  and  arose  in  that  body. 
And  that  body  without  this  spirit-maid  was  dead,  but 
by  the  return  of  this  spirit-maid  it  became  alive  again 
and  capable  of  arising. 

But  under  Mr.  Russell's  doctrine  there  is  no  spirit 
left,  there  is  nothing  left.  Even  "the  man  Jesus  is 
dead,  forever  dead."  And  Mr.  Russell  does  not  claim 
that  it  is  the  same  being  that  now  lives.  "It  was  neces- 
sary, not  only  that  the  man  Christ  Jesus  should  die, 
but  just  as  necessary  that  the  man  Christ  Jesus  should 
never  live  again,  should  remain  dead,  should  remain 
our  ransom-price  to  all  eternity."  It  is  contrary  to 
reason  as  well  as  to  Scripture  that  a  being  can  be  resur- 
rected from  such  a  state.  The  appearance  of  a  being 
in  exact  duplicate  would  carry  no  identification  of 
personality,  there  could  be  no  identity  created  even  by 
God  Himself. 

Again,  Mr.  Russell's  main  idea  of  resurrection  is 
that  of  man's  gradual  development  of  being  from  the 
present  low  estate  to  the  original  human  perfection 
of  Adam.  The  restoration  of  all  men  to  mere  exist- 
ence again  is  treated  by  him  as  comparatively  trivial. 
But  Mr.  Russell's  theory  involves  two  very  serious 
defects.  First,  what  Scripture  magnifies  as  an  event, 


60  WHY  I  REJECT 

sudden  and  momentary,  namely,  the  awakening  of  the 
dead  in  body  again,  Mr.  Russell  belittles,  almost  de- 
spises. Secondly,  what  Mr.  Russell  makes  so  much 
of,  the  "raising  up  to  perfection,"  "requiring  the  en- 
tire [Millennial]  age  for  its  full  accomplishment,"  has 
no  warrant  whatever  from  Scripture. 

It  is  so  evident,  as  we  said  before,  that  Mr.  Russell's 
theory  makes  resurrection  both  impossible  and  absurd, 
that  it  seems  scarcely  worth  while  to  argue  the  two 
last  objections.  A  few  words  will  suffice. 

Mr.  Russell's  doctrine  makes  nothing  more  of  resur- 
rection in  its  initial  stage  than  the  mere  resumption  of 
existence  as  it  was  when  laid  aside  with  the  expiring 
breath.  The  matter  of  vast  consequence  in  his  eyes 
is  the  further  gradual  "process  of  resurrection"  by 
which  man  will  "gradually  rise,  during  the  Millennial 
age."  "The  mere  awakening  to  a  measure  of  life  and 
consciousness,  as  at  present  enjoyed,  will  of  course 
be  a  momentary  work"  (I,  p.  289).  But  it  is  just  to 
this  momentary  resurrection,  "resurrection  from  the 
dead,"  "resurrection  of  the  dead,"  that  Scripture  de- 
votes its  exalted  testimonies.  In  I  Cor.  xv.  Paul 
places  three  events  in  Christ's  experiences  in  climac- 
teric succession,  His  death,  His  burial,  and  His  resur- 
rection. Mind  you,  it  is  stated  as  His  resurrection  "the 
third  day  according  to  the  Scriptures,"  a  specific  point 
of  time.  These  three  events  constitute  the  Gospel 
facts.  Then  upon  Christ's  resurrection,  or  rather  upon 
the  risen  Christ  Himself,  is  made  to  depend  the  resur- 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  61 

rection  of  all  men.  And  their  resurrection  is  treated 
throughout  as  an  event,  complete  at  once  and  stu- 
pendous, and  strictly  after  the  likeness  of  Christ's 
bodily  ascent  out  of  death  and  the  tomb.  (No  won- 
der Mr.  Russell  minimizes  and  almost  despises  the 
event  of  awakening  from  death,  because  he  denies  that 
Jesus  arose  in  body  at  all,  or  that  "this  same  Jesus" 
ever  awoke  or  will  awake.)  After  treating  of  the  lit- 
eral facts  of  Christ's  resurrection,  the  fact  of  universal 
resurrection  in  consequence,  the  order  of  resurrection 
and  the  manner  thereof,  Paul  concludes  this  classic 
passage  in  words  within  the  comprehension  of  the  child 
and  beyond  the  power  of  the  most  learned  to  make 
clearer  even  by  some  pretended  "light  now  due :" 

"Behold,  I  shew  you  a  mystery:  We  shall  not  all 
sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed,  in  a  moment,  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump :  for  the 
trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised  in- 
corruptible, and  we  shall  be  changed.  For  this  cor- 
ruptible must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal 
must  put  on  immortality.  So  when  this  corruptible 
shall  have  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  shall 
have  put  on  immortality,  then  shall  be  brought  to  pass 
the  saying  that  is  written,  Death  is  swallowed  up  in 
victory.  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave,  where 
is  thy  victory?" 

Now,  as  to  the  meaning  Mr.  Russell  mainly  puts 
into  resurrection,  "the  Millennial  age  of  restitution  or 
resurrection  (raising  up),"  little  needs  to  be  said,  but 


62  WHY  I  REJECT 

that  needs  to  be  said  plainly.  Mr.  Russell's  claim  that 
the  word  resurrection  in  the  Greek  admits  any  such 
sense  is  fraudulent.  There  is  not  a  Greek  lexicon  or 
a  respectable  Greek  exegete  in  the  world,  who  will 
admit  that  the  Greek  word  for  resurrection  can  pos- 
sibly involve  even  remotely  the  idea  of  a  prolonged 
process,  a  rising  in  the  general  scale  of  being  through 
a  thousand  years  subsequent  to  return  from  death. 
We  unequivocally  assert  that  Mr.  Russell  practices 
fraud  as  a  teacher,  when  he  palms  off  upon  readers 
who  are  ignorant  of  Greek  such  a  meaning  of  the 
word  under  consideration. 

And  it  is  purely  out  of  such  fraudulent  dealing 
with  inspired  words  that  Mr.  Russell  finds  a  shadow  of 
support  for  his  theory  of  millennial  "restitution  or 
resurrection."  No  unprejudiced  reader  of  Scripture 
would  ever  draw  from  its  pages  such  an  idea.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  Mr.  Russell  presses  the  necessity  of 
every  Bible  student's  not  ceasing  to  read  "Scripture 
Studies,"  even  if  by  the  year  he  never  reads  a  line 
of  Scripture  directly  further  than  as  referred  to  and 
expounded  by  "Studies."  No  wonder  he  insists  upon 
laying  aside  all  accustomed  understanding  of  the  Bible 
for  "the  light  now  due"  from  his  pen.  No  wonder 
he  asserts  that  no  one  has  in  the  past,  or  can  in  the 
present,  understand  the  Bible  without  "Helping  Hand." 
For  ourselves,  we  reject  such  "light"  and  such  "hand," 
and  condemn  it  as  false. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

OTHER  FALSE  TEACHINGS  ON  THE 
RANSOM. 

In  bringing  the  objections  to  Mr.  Russell's  teach- 
ings on  the  "Ransom"  to  a  conclusion,  we  notice  a  few 
more  serious  errors. 

1.   MR.  RUSSELL'S  FALSE  DEFINITION  OF  RANSOM. 

While  "ransom"  may  be  allowed  to  mean  "a  cor- 
responding price,"  yet  it  is  unwarrantable  for  Mr. 
Russell  to  insist  that  "corresponding"  shall  mean 
"identical  in  kind"  instead  of  equivalent.  He  requires 
that  Christ  as  a  ransom  shall  be  no  more,  as  no  less, 
than  the  exact  human  duplicate  of  the  perfect  Adam, 
and  that  Christ  should  lay  down  all  earthly  rights  and 
all  human  existence  in  death  ("extinction  of  being"), 
as  he  claims  Adam  did  as  the  penalty  for  sin. 

This  identity  in  kind  is  no  necessary  element  of 
ransom  whatever.  The  necessary  thing  in  a  ransom 
is  an  equivalent  as  determined  by  the  one  to  whom 
it  is  due.  The  Old  Testament  abounds  in  ransom- 
types,  but  very  seldom  is  the  ransom-price  of  the  iden- 
tical kind  or  degree  with  that  which  is  to  be  redeemed. 
And  even  Mr.  Russell  forgets  himself  in  discussing 
the  subject  of  "substitution,"  which  he  defines  as  the 


64  WHY  I  REJECT 

exact  synonym  of  "ransom."  He  uses  this  language: 
"For  instance,  if  we  purchased  a  loaf  of  bread  for  a 
piece  of  money,  we  exchange  the  money  for  the  bread, 
i.e.,  we  substitute  the  money  for  the  bread.  If  a 
farmer  takes  a  sack  of  wheat  to  the  mill,  and  receives 
therefor  an  equivalent  value  in  flour,  the  wheat  has 
become  a  substitute  for  the  flour,  and  the  flour  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  wheat.  The  one  is  a  corresponding 
price,  a  ransom,  a  substitute  for  the  other"  (V.  481). 
Consequently,  his  argument  that  Christ  as  a  ransom 
must  be  purely  a  man  like  Adam  and  die  his  death, 
in  the  sense  of  extinction  of  being,  falls  flat. 

2.    MR.  RUSSELL'S  FALSE  LIMITATION  OF  THE  RANSOM. 

Mr.  Russell  claims  that  Jesus'  sacrifice  as  a  "cor- 
responding price"  reached  no  further,  and  could  reach 
no  further,  than  to  redeem  one  human  life,  that  of 
Adam.  Adam's  race  being  indirectly  involved  in  the 
penalty  is  allowed  to  be  indirectly  sharers  in  the  ran- 
som. But  had  any  other  human  being  as  yet  had  a 
separate  trial  and  failed  as  Adam  did,  Jesus  would 
not  have  availed  for  him  but  another  redeemer  would 
have  been  necessary.  "If  the  first  trial  had  been  an 
individual  trial,  and  if  one-half  of  the  race  had  sinned 
and  been  individually  condemned,  it  would  have  re- 
quired the  sacrifice  of  a  redeemer  for  each  condemned 
individual"  (I.  133).  Of  course  this  would  be  the 
case  if  ransom  must  be  the  same  in  kind  and  degree 
and  if  Christ  was  nothing  more  than  the  perfect  Adam. 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  65 

But  this  limitation  of  Christ's  sacrifice  to  the  value 
of  one  merely  human  being  is  contrary  to  Scripture. 
All  admit  that  the  sacrifices  of  the  Old  Testament  are 
all  typical  of  Christ's  sacrificial  work,  i.e.,  that  they 
represent  various  aspects  of  His  work  and  all  to- 
gether contribute  to  present  His  work  in  its  fulness. 
Hence  Christ's  death  has  the  various  applications  and 
the  full  value  represented  by  all  the  different  sacrifices. 

So,  there  was  the  atonement  offering,  made  once 
every  year.  This  was  for  all  Israel  together,  and  it 
represented  Christ  as  "the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world"  (John  i.  29).  But  notice, 
the  sacrifice  was  made  for  "the  congregation  of  Israel" 
and  not  at  all  just  for  one  person  as  federal  head 
of  the  rest.  Hence  it  teaches  the  value  and  the  appli- 
cation of  Christ's  death  for  all  men,  not  merely  indi- 
rectly through  the  federal  headship  of  Adam,  but 
directly  for  all  the  constituent  members  of  the  whole 
race.  Then,  there  were  the  daily  sacrifices  presented 
by  every  man  for  himself.  This  represents  every 
man's  right  to  claim  the  atonement  in  Christ's  blood 
for  himself  as  an  individual  independently  of  other 
men.  Hence  Paul  speaks  of  "the  Son  of  God,  who 
loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for  me"  (Gal.  ii.  20). 
And  any  one  of  us  may  use  the  same  language.  Then, 
there  was  the  "trespass  offering,"  making  atonement, 
not  only  for  an  individual  person,  but  for  a  particular 
offense  of  any  individual.  Accordingly  we  read :  "If 
any  man  sin,"  commit  a  particular  sin,  "we  have  an 


66  WHY  I  REJECT 

advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ,  the  righteous: 
and  He  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins :  and  not  for 
ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world" 
(I  John  ii.  1,  2). 

3.     FALSE  STATEMENT  OF  THE  RESULT  OF  THE  RANSOM. 

Mr.  Russell  limits  the  result  of  the  ransom  to  merely 
releasing  man  from  extinction  of  existence  in  order 
that  he  may  have  a  chance  in  the  Millennium  to  try 
for  everlasting  existence  as  a  reward  for  obedience. 
It  is  the  old  existence  renewed  on  the  old  fallen  plane, 
only  with  a  thousand-year  chance  of  "resurrection" 
(raising  up  to  perfection)  under  more  favorable  con- 
ditions than  those  of  Adam's  trial,  especially  as  first 
affording  an  individual  trial  for  all  men.  There  is 
to  be  no  new  moral  or  spiritual  nature  created  (re- 
generation), no  grace  of  imparted  righteousness  from 
Jesus  Christ.  Man  will  only  be  kindly  taught  and  pa- 
tiently disciplined  (judged),  and  gradually  through 
decades  and  centuries  he  will  rise  up  as  he  avails  him- 
self of  opportunity,  until  he  develops  himself  into  a 
perfect  likeness  of  Adam  as  he  was  created.  Mr.  Rus- 
sell holds  that  full  obedience  will  not  be  required  until 
man  has  thus  become  perfect.  It  is  obedience  in  his 
own  ability ;  and  only  perfect,  independent  ability  will 
bring  full  accountability.  Then,  when  a  man  has  be- 
come perfect  in  being,  knowledge  and  ability,  he  must 
choose  whether  he  will  always  behave  or  not.  If  he 
chooses  aright  he  will  be  given  right  to  ceaseless 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  67 

existence  in  human  perfection.  Otherwise,  he  will 
forfeit  further  existence  forevermore.  Moreover,  after 
Christ  has  chaperoned  mankind  to  the  end  of  the  Mil- 
lennium (although  not  directly  and  visibly),  He  will 
retire  from  further  mediatorship,  and  will  leave  man- 
kind to  stand  forever  on  its  own  meritorious  charac- 
ter and  to  rule  the  world  in  its  own  right,  "when  they 
will  be  fully  capable  of  rightly  exercising  the  dominion 
of  earth  as  originally  designed"  (I.  247). 

According  to  Mr.  Russell  there  was  no  ransom  what- 
ever for  mankind  for  four  thousand  years  until  Christ 
historically  died;  and  then  it  could  be  of  no  avail 
to  the  dead,  or  even  to  the  living  who  were  but  dying 
and  were  not  as  yet  under  probation.  In  fact,  there 
has  been  no  bona  fide  offer  of  everlasting  life  as  yet. 
"No  recovery  from  the  Adamic  loss  is  yet  accom- 
plished, though  nearly  two  thousand  years  have  elapsed 
since  our  Lord  died"  (I.  157). 

How  utterly  untrue  to  Scripture  is  this  limitation 
of  the  ransom  to  future  release  from  extinction  and 
this  exclusion  of  all  present  availability  of  everlasting 
life  as  a  result  of  the  ransom  price  paid  by  Jesus 
Christ!  How  utterly  untrue  to  Scripture  is  the  claim 
that  men  in  general  have  not  had  light  enough  to 
give  them  a  chance  of  eternal  life!  Mr.  Russell  dog- 
matizes as  to  what  everlasting  life  is,  as  to  what  man 
must  do  to  inherit  it,  and  as  to  what  conditions  man 
must  enjoy  in  order  to  be  able  to  fulfil  the  require- 


68  WHY  I  REJECT 

ments  of  the  case.  But  all  of  these  dogmas  are  unsup- 
ported by  the  truth  of  God's  Word. 

Eternal  life  is  not  merely  perfect  human  existence 
endlessly  prolonged ;  it  is  the  eternal  God's  own  life. 
It  becomes  man's  not  by  a  thousand  years  of  his  be- 
ing trained  up  to  human  perfection  and  ability  to 
obey  in  his  own  power  a  perfect  divine  law;  it  is  a 
gift  to  man,  whereby  he  is  at  once  graciously  enabled 
and  constrained  to  obey  God  in  love.  It  is  not  of- 
fered first  for  the  Millennial  age;  but  it  is  available 
now  and  is  offered  to  all  now.  "Whosoever  will,  let 
him  take  the  water  of  life  freely"  (Rev.  xxii.  17). 
'This  life  is  in  His  Son.  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath 
life ;  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not 
life"  (I  John  v.  11,  12).  "This  [Jesus  Christ]  is  the 
true  God,  and  eternal  life"  (I  John  v.  20). 

Mr.  Russell's  Christ  has  no  life  to  share  with  us. 
He  is  only  at  best  a  spirit  being ;  and  there  is  no  spirit 
being  not  possessed  of  deity  (and  Mr.  Russell  denies 
deity  to  Christ,  both  in  pre-existence  and  in  present 
existence)  that  can  give  us  his  own  life.  But  Mr. 
Russell  makes  man  perfectly  competent  of  self- 
recovery,  only  give  him  a  good  "chance,"  a  "fair 
trial."  And  Mr.  Russell  has  publicly  acknowledged 
that  he  has  no  need  of  Christ  as  a  Mediator. 

It  would  take  a  volume  to  go  through  the  sickening 
details  of  Mr.  Russell's  misconstruction  of  every  Bib- 
lical term  pertaining  to  the  results  of  the  ransom, 
whether  present  or  prospective.  What  little  result 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  69 

there  is  at  present  is  only  "reckonedly"  such,  not  really 
anything.  He  takes  away  the  last  crumb  of  present 
bounty  from  our  Father's  table,  and  for  the  future 
offers  only  theoretical  meritorious  rewards  for  theo- 
retical works  of  self-righteousness. 

4.     NO  TRUE  RANSOM   AT  ALL  AS   YET. 

Mr.  Russell  really  takes  away  all  true  ransom.  One 
of  two  things  results  from  his  doctrine.  We  get  the 
idea  from  the  first  volume  of  "Scripture  Studies"  that 
the  penalty  of  sin  is  death  in  the  sense  of  extinc- 
tion of  being,  or  cessation  of  existence — this  and  noth- 
ing more  than  this  in  its  simple  sense.  As  Mr.  Russell 
puts  it:  "The  Scriptural  statement  is  that  death — 
extinction  of  being — is  the  wages  of  sin"  (I.  p.  159). 
With  this  understanding,  we  would  have  to  admit  that 
the  full  penalty  of  sin  was  met  by  Adam's  death, 
which,  as  Mr.  Russell  claims,  was  the  extinction  of 
his  being.  God  could  in  perfect  justice,  then,  resur- 
rect Adam  (allowing  that  an  extinct  being  can  be 
resurrected)  and  let  him  have  another  trial  without 
requiring  any  ransom.  There  is  no  ransom-price  to 
be  paid.  A  so-called  "ransom"  would  be  a  second  pay- 
ment of  the  same  penalty. 

But  in  the  fifth  volume  Mr.  Russell  tells  us  that  the 
penalty  consists  not  in  being  extinguished,  but  in  for- 
ever remaining  extinct.  "Had  the  penalty  against 
sin  been  merely  dying — had  the  Lord  said  to  Adam, 
Because  of  your  sin  you  must  experience  the  trying 


70  WHY  I  REJECT 

ordeal  of  dying,  then,  indeed,  the  penalty  would  be 
met  by  Adam  and  others  in  dying.  But  such  is  not  the 
penalty:  the  penalty  is  death,  not  dying;  and  death 
is  the  absence  of  life,  destruction.  Hence  for  man 
to  pay  the  penalty  would  mean  that  he  must  stay  dead, 
devoid  of  life  forever.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  redemp- 
tion, Adamic  death  would  have  been — everlasting  de- 
struction. And — when  our  Lord  Jesus  did  become  our 
Redeemer,  when  He  did  give  Himself  as  our  ransom- 
price,  it  meant  to  him  what  the  original  penalty  would 
have  meant  to  us,  viz.,  that  the  man  Christ  Jesus  suf- 
fered for  us  death  in  the  most  absolute  sense  of  ever- 
lasting destruction.  Hence  we  know  Christ  no  more 
after  the  flesh"  (V,  465,  466). 

We  may  make  one  or  two  remarks.  What  is  the 
difference,  pray,  between  extinction  simple  and  ex- 
tinction everlasting?  Can  extinction  be  less  than  final, 
everlasting?  Extinction  that  is  not  final  and  ever- 
lasting is  inconceivable.  Anything  less  than  final  ex- 
tinction is  not  extinction  but  suspension.  But  suspen- 
sion is  not  death  in  Mr.  Russell's  view.  Seeing,  then, 
that  there  is  no  conceivable  distinction  between  extinc- 
tion and  everlasting  extinction,  there  can  be  no  dif- 
ference between  death  and  a  complete  dying.  There 
can,  then,  be  no  difference  in  penalty  between  dying 
and  death,  seeing  dying  means  with  Mr.  Russell  "the 
extinction  of  being."  Adam,  accordingly,  paid  the 
full  penalty  of  his  sin,  and  ransom  has  no  place  or 
meaning. 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  71 

But,  allow  that  extinction  can  be  either  tempor- 
ary or  everlasting,  that  the  latter  is  the  worse,  and 
that  this  is  the  real  penalty  for  sin.  Then  the  penalty 
of  sin  is  endless,  exhaustless.  We  must  then  urge  the 
same  injustice  on  God's  part  that  Mr.  Russell  urges 
against  everlasting  conscious  punishment.  If  Adam's 
eating  the  fruit  was  so  slight  a  sin,  as  Mr.  Russell 
makes  it  to  be,  what  an  unjust  penalty,  that  Adam, 
who  only  ate  of  forbidden  fruit,  should  pay  an  infinite 
penalty,  and  not  only  he  but  also  "forty-two  billions" 
of  human  beings  also  who  did  not  eat ! 

But  passing  this,  and  allowing  all  that  Mr.  Russell 
claims,  that  an  ever-continuing  extinction  is  the  penalty 
of  sin.  From  this  he  draws  his  blasphemous  doctrine 
(by  pure  reasoning,  without  even  attempting  to  sup- 
port it  by  Scripture),  that  "the  man  Christ  Jesus  is 
dead,  forever  dead,"  left  extinct  forever  as  "our  ran- 
som-price to  all  eternity."  Note  well  that  it  follows, 
then,  that  the  ransom  has  not  been  paid  up  and  never 
can  be.  As  eternity  can  never  end,  His  extinction 
of  being  can  never  reach  termination  as  a  finished 
ransom.  Mr.  Russell  says  that  the  element  of  suffer- 
ing is  not  at  all  involved  in  paying  the  ransom  price, 
it  is  exclusively  the  extinction  of  being.  Well,  how 
long  since  Christ  died?  Not  two  thousand  years  yet. 
What  is  that  to  eternity?  Relatively  Christ  has  only 
begun  to  pay  the  ransom.  What  is  thus  far  paid  is 
only  infinitesimal.  It  is  a  penalty  which  can  never 
be  paid  more  than  to  an  infinitesimal  degree,  for  a 


72  WHY  I  REJECT 

thousand  billion  years  are  infinitesimal  in  comparison 
with  eternity. 

How  differently  Scripture  speaks!  Let  us  turn  to 
just  one  passage,  Hebrew  x.  First,  this  idea  of  an  un- 
finished sacrifice,  which  was  the  nature  of  the  old 
Mosaic  sacrifices,  is  contrasted  with  Christ's  sacrifice. 
"But  in  those  sacrifices  there  is  a  remembrance  again 
made  of  sins  every  year.  For  it  is  not  possible  that 
the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  should  take  away  sins" 
(vss.  3,  4).  Then,  the  priestly  service,  never  complete 
because  of  not  having  a  finished  sacrifice  to  present, 
is  contrasted  with  Christ's  effectual  priesthood.  "And 
every  priest  standeth  daily  ministering  and  offering 
oftentimes  the  same  sacrifices,  which  can  never  take 
away  sins :  but  this  man,  after  he  had  offered  one  sac- 
rifice for  sins  forever,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of 
God;  from  henceforth  expecting  till  his  enemies  be 
made  his  footstool.  For  by  one  offering  he  hath  per- 
fected forever  them  that  are  sanctified.  Whereof  the 
Holy  Ghost  also  is  a  witness  to  us:  for  after  that  he 
had  said  before,  this  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make 
with  them  after  those  days,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  put 
my  laws  into  their  hearts,  and  in  their  minds  will  I 
write  them ;  and  their  sins  and  iniquities  will  I  remem- 
ber no  more.  Now  where  remission  of  these  is,  there 
is  no  more  offering  for  sin"  (vss.  11-18). 

This  speaks  as  plainly  as  language  can  of  a  com- 
pleted ransom;  of  a  priestly  ministry  that  is  already 
as  effectual  as  it  ever  can  be;  of  "this  man,"  the 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  73 

identical  man  that  shed  the  blood  of  the  ransom,  as 
now  sitting  "on  the  right  hand  of  God"  as  "an  high 
priest  over  the  house  of  God"  (vs.  21)  ;  of  Him  as 
"henceforth  expecting  [waiting]  till  His  enemies  be 
made  His  footstool"  (by  His  glorious  coming  as  "this 
same  Jesus,"  Acts  i.  8). 

Who  can  blame  the  writer  that  again  he  rejects 
such  a  treacherous  "helping  hand?"  One's  righteous 
indignation  rises  to  white  heat,  as  one  considers  the 
thousands  of  unwary  souls  that  are  confiding  in  this 
false  "light,  now  due,"  which  is  so  aptly  described 
by  the  Apostle  Jude,  verse  four:  "For  there  are  cer- 
tain men,  crept  in  unawares,  who  were  before  of  old 
ordained  to  this  condemnation,  ungodly  men,  turning 
the  grace  of  our  God  into  lasciviousness,  and  deny- 
ing the  only  Lord  God,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 


CHAPTER  IX. 
FALSE  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  MILLENNIUM. 

In  this  chapter  Mr.  Russell's  false  doctrines  regard- 
ing the  Millennium  will  be  presented.  We  will  point 
out  four  respects  in  which  his  teachings  on  this  sub- 
ject are  erroneous  and  false,  namely,  as  to  the  time, 
the  manner,  the  purpose  and  the  outcome  of  the  Mil- 
lennium. 

1.     ERROR  AS  TO  THE  TIME  OF  THE  MILLENNIUM. 

Mr.  Russell  begins  the  second  chapter  of  Volume  II 
of  "Studies  in  the  Scriptures"  with  these  words:  "In 
this  chapter  we  present  the  Bible  evidence  which  in- 
dicates that  six  thousand  years  from  the  creation  of 
Adam  were  complete  with  A.D.  1872;  and  hence  that, 
since  1872  A.D.,  we  are  chronologically  entered  upon 
the  seventh  thousand  or  the  Millennium — the  fore- 
part of  which,  the  "Day  of  the  Lord,"  the  "day  of 
trouble,"  is  to  witness  the  breaking  into  pieces  of  the 
kingdoms  of  this  world  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  under  the  whole  heavens."  This 
"forepart"  of  the  Millennium  he  makes  to  be  a  period 
of  forty  years,  extending  till  1914  A.D.  and  winding 
up  "The  Times  of  the  Gentiles."  "The  Bible  evidence 
is  clear  and  strong  that  the  'Times  of  the  Gentiles' 
is  a  period  of  2520  years,  from  the  year  606  B.C. 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  75 

to  and  including  1914  A.D."  (p.  79).  Again,  "In 
view  of  this  strong  Bible  evidence  concerning  the 
Times  of  the  Gentiles,  we  consider  it  an  established 
truth  that  the  final  end  of  the  kingdoms  of  this  world, 
and  the  full  establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
will  be  accomplished  at  the  end  of  A.D.  1914"  (p.  99). 
Throughout  the  six  volumes  of  "Studies,"  one  is 
impressed  with  the  fact  that,  without  mentioning  him- 
self, Mr.  Russell  yet  thrusts  himself  into  the  place 
of  the  very  focus  of  the  religious  progress  of  the 
ages  up  to  the  dawning  of  the  Millennium.  It  was 
just  after  1873  that  he  began  these  writings  as  "the 
light  now  due,"  the  light  mankind  had  waited  six 
thousand  years  for,  the  light  that  alone  constitutes 
the  beacon  of  the  Millennium's  opening.  Referring 
to  his  first  volume,  on  "The  Divine  Plan  of  the  Ages," 
Mr.  Russell  naively  says:  "Since  He  [God]  has 
recently  made  the  grand  outlines  of  His  plan  so  clear, 
we  may  reasonably  expect  that  His  time  is  due  to 
lead  us  into  a  knowledge  of  its  time  features"  (II, 
p.  25).  Thus  he  makes  himself  the  timely  and  ex- 
clusive herald  of  the  "Millennial  Dawn." 

But  we  feel  obliged  to  question  rudely,  even  to 
dispute  flatly,  his  chronology. 

To  begin  with,  no  man  has  been  able,  or  now  can, 
make  out  with  certainty  the  chronology  from  creation 
to  the  present,  even  admitting,  what  the  Scriptures 
nowhere  aver,  that  the  seventh  thousand  of  years  will 


76  WHY  I  REJECT 

constitute  the  Millennium  of  Revelation  xx.  4,  6,  7. 
The  data  for  such  an  unmistakable  chronology  are 
defective.  There  are  some  broken  links  in  the  present 
text  of  Scripture.  Besides,  the  Greek  translation  of 
the  Old  Testament  gives  1466  more  years  to  time 
before  Christ  than  our  Hebrew  text  does.  And  the 
Greek  translation  is  from  Hebrew  manuscripts  older 
by  some  centuries  than  those  from  which  our  Hebrew 
text  has  descended.  Moreover,  there  is  strong  reason 
for  believing  that  the  Jewish  copyists,  from  whose 
hands  our  present  Hebrew  text  has  been  transmitted, 
tampered  with  the  chronology  for  the  purpose  of  prov- 
ing that  the  reputed  Messiah,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  ap- 
peared some  centuries  before  the  true  Messiah,  accord- 
ing to  accepted  tradition,  was  due.  Hence,  to  say  the 
least,  it  is  very  cool  and  bold  to  make  a  positive  claim 
that  the  Millennium  is  the  seventh  thousand  of  years 
and  that  the  Millennium  began  in  A.  D.  1873. 

But  it  is  enough  to  upset  Mr.  Russell's  chronology 
entirely,  to  point  out  the  fact  that  he  coolly  post- 
pones the  reckoning  fully  sixty  years  at  one  point, 
thereby  bringing  his  Millennial  date  down  to  1873, 
the  eve  of  his  own  debut,  instead  of  sixty  years  earlier, 
which  would  be  the  true  date,  even  accepting  all  his 
other  points  as  correct.  This  discrepancy  will  now  be 
explained.  It  occurs  in  connection  with  the  time-link 
of  430  years  between  God's  covenant  with  Abraham 
and  the  giving  of  the  Law  to  Moses  (Gal.  Hi.  15). 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  77 

Mr.  Russell  makes  this  period  begin  after  the  death 
of  Abram's  father  Terah,  on  the  basis  of  Stephen's 
word  in  Acts  vii.  4:  "When  his  father  was  dead  he 
removed  him  into  this  land,  wherein  ye  now  dwell." 
Thus  Abram  would  at  this  time  have  been  135  years 
old,  for  Terah  died  at  205  years  of  age  and  Abram 
was  born  when  Terah  was  seventy  (Gen.  xi.  26,  32). 
But  Genesis  xii.  4  states  that  "Abram  was  seventy 
and  five  years  old  when  he  departed  out  of  Haran," 
and  it  connects  that  age  immediately  with  the  Cove- 
nant. Besides,  this  date  is  required  by  Exodus  xii. 
40,  41,  where  the  entire  time  of  "the  sojourning  of 
the  children  of  Israel,"  the  "sojourning"  in  Canaan 
as  "strangers"  and  then  in  Egypt  as  bondsmen,  is 
said  to  have  been  just  430  years.  This  period  falls 
into  these  divisions:  From  the  covenant  with  Abram 
to  Isaac's  birth  when  Abram  was  100  years  old, 
25  years ;  thence  to  Jacob's  birth,  60  years ;  thence  to 
Jacob's  descent  into  Egypt,  130  years,  equalling  215 
years  (See  Gen.  xxi.  5,  xxv.  26,  xlvii.  9).  The  re- 
maining time  of  215  years  constituted  the  four  gen- 
erations of  Egyptian  bondage  (Gen.  xv.  16,  and  Ex. 
vi.  16-20).  Furthermore,  if  we  took  Mr.  Russell's 
reckoning,  it  would  date  God's  covenant  with  Abram 
35  years  after  the  birth  of  Isaac,  the  child  of  the 
covenant. 

This  discrepancy  of  sixty  years  would  not  be  so 
vital,  only  that  it  spoils  all  of  Mr.  Russell's  Millennial 
calculations.  We  have  quoted  his  statement  that  after 


78  WHY  I  REJECT 

forty  years  from  1873  all  Gentile  kingdoms  were  to  be 
succeeded  by  the  universal  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 
It  would  be  hazardous  to  assert  that  this  revolution 
has  now  recently  transpired.  But  the  discrepancy 
pointed  out  requires  that  this  stupendous  change 
should  have  already  occurred  60  years  ago.  Further- 
more, Mr.  Russell  states  that  "some  time  before  the 
end  of  A.D.  1914  the  last  member  of  the  divinely 
recognized  Church  of  Christ,  the  'royal  priesthood/ 
'the  body  of  Christ/  will  be  glorified  with  the  Head; 
becau.-.e  every  member  is  to  reign  with  Christ,  being 
joint-heir  with  Him  in  the  Kingdom,  and  it  can  not 
be  fully  'set  up'  without  every  member"  (II,  p.  77). 
According  to  the  correction  made  above,  this  departure 
of  the  last  member  of  the  "divinely  recognized  Church 
of  Christ"  should  have  occurred  60  years  ago.  And 
how  account  for  the  fact  that  now,  after  1914,  Mr. 
Russell  and  his  followers  are  still  in  our  midst  as 
visible  mortals? 

2.     FALSE   TEACHING   AS    TO    THE    MANNER    OF    THE 
MILLENNIUM. 

The  more  important  and  momentous  the  successive 
stages  of  truth  become,  the  more  trickily  and  deceit- 
fully does  Mr.  Russell  appear  to  us  to  handle  the 
Word  of  truth.  So  here,  in  the  matter  of  the  reality 
of  the  coming  of  Christ  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon 
earth,  Mr.  Russell  befogs  everything  with  private 
interpretations  of  the  plainest  statements  of  Scripture, 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  79 

so  that  all  meaning  is  made  so  peculiar  that  we  are 
wholly  dependent  upon  him  for  any  understanding 
whatever.  This  is  in  accord  with  his  own  statement, 
Vol.  II,  p.  142 :  "There  are  some  statements  of  Scrip- 
ture with  reference  to  the  manner  of  the  Lord's  re- 
turn and  appearing  which,  until  critically  examined, 
appear  to  be  contradictory  of  each  other.  And  no 
doubt  they  have  for  centuries  served  the  divine  pur- 
pose of  concealing  the  truth  until  the  due  time  for 
it  to  be  understood  [ !]  ;  and  even  then,  from  all  ex- 
cept the  special  class  of  consecrated  ones  for  whom 
it  was  intended."  It  is  thus  that  this  seductive  teacher 
lures  his  credulous  followers  to  their  destruction,  first 
making  them  cast  away  the  trusted  direct  testimony 
of  the  Word,  and  then  binding  them  to  his  beguiling 
constructions  of  it. 

In  a  word,  Mr.  Russell  teaches  as  the  manner  of 
the  coming  in  and  prevalence  of  the  Millennium  an 
entire  absence  of  the  sudden  and  demonstrative,  the 
very  features  which  are  everywhere  attributed  to  it 
by  the  plain  language  of  Scripture.  Mr.  Russell  takes 
most  elaborate  pains  to  deal  with  every  passage  which 
clearly  characterizes  the  coming  in  of  the  new  King- 
dom as  attended  with  sudden  and  demonstrative 
tokens,  and  construes  it  in  undreamed-of  ways  to  get 
rid  of  these  features.  But  a  perfect  maze  of  con- 
fusion and  misconception,  not  to  say  unblushing  mis- 
representation, is  thereby  created. 


80  WHY  I  REJECT 

He  quotes  Luke  xvii.  20,  "The  kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  observation,"  as  declaring  the  secret 
character  of  the  King  and  His  Kingdom  not  only, 
as  Christ  meant,  at  that  particular  time,  but  also  at 
the  time  of  His  second  coming.  He  ignores  the  fact 
that  a  few  verses  below  the  one  quoted  Christ  as- 
sured His  disciples  of  the  spectacular  character  of 
His  second  coming  in  the  words:  "For  as  the  light- 
ning, that  lighteneth  out  of  the  one  part  under  heaven, 
shineth  unto  the  other  part  under  heaven;  so  shall 
also  the  Son  of  man  be  in  His  day."  In  the  same 
passage  He  refers  to  the  sudden  descent  of  judgment 
spectacularly  upon  Sodom  and  adds :  "Even  thus  shall 
it  be  in  the  day  when  the  Son  of  man  is  revealed" 
(vs.  30). 

But  it  is  necessary  for  Mr.  Russell  to  brush  away 
every  feature  of  literalism  and  simplicity,  because  it 
is  with  him  necessary  at  all  hazards  to  avoid  having 
"the  man  Christ  Jesus"  reappear  at  all,  least  of  all 
in  any  literal  human,  though  glorified,  manifestation. 
He  says:  "Our  Lord  Jesus  *  *  *  is  no  longer 
a  man,  but  a  spirit  being,  whom  no  man  hath  seen 
nor  can  see  without  a  miracle"  (II,  131).  Again, 
"Many  Christians  have  the  idea  that  our  Lord's  glori- 
ous spiritual  body  is  the  very  same  body  that  was 
crucified  and  laid  away  in  Joseph's  tomb ;  they  expect, 
when  they  see  the  Lord  in  glory,  to  identify  Him 
by  the  scars  He  received  on  Calvary.  *  *  *  Our 
Lord's  human  body  was,  however,  supernaturally  re- 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  81 

moved  from  the  tomb.  *  *  *  We  know  nothing 
about  what  became  of  it,  except  that  it  did  not  decay 
or  corrupt  (Acts  ii.  27,  31).  Whether  it  was  dis- 
solved into  gases  or  whether  it  is  still  preserved  some- 
where as  the  grand  memorial  of  God's  love,  of  Christ's 
obedience,  and  of  our  redemption,  no  one  knows 
*  *  *  nor  is  such  knowledge  necessary.  *  *  * 
It  will  not  surprise  us  if,  in  the  Kingdom,  God  shall 
show  to  the  world  the  body  of  flesh,  crucified  for  all 
in  giving  the  ransom  on  their  behalf — not  permitted 
to  corrupt,  but  preserved  as  an  everlasting  testimony 
of  infinite  love  and  perfect  obedience.  *  *  *  It  is  at 
least  possible  that  John  xix.  37  and  Zech.  xii.  10  may 
have  such  [ !]  a  fulfilment.  Those  who  cried,  'Crucify 
Him!'  may  yet,  as  witnesses,  identify  the  very  body 
pierced  by  the  spear  and  torn  by  the  nails"  (II,  130). 

All  of  Christ's  appearings  to  His  disciples  after 
His  resurrection  are  accounted  for  as  put  on  for  the 
occasion,  as  an  angel  might  make  himself  visible  in 
the  form  of  a  man.  These  were  miraculous  and  not 
natural  appearances,  Mr.  Russell  claims;  and  they 
did  not  signify  any  existing  visible  embodiment  of 
Christ.  Indeed,  every  appearance  was  in  a  distinct 
miraculously  assumed  body  or  visible  medium.  He 
allows  that  these  "bodies"  were  "real  human  bodies," 
so  that  Christ  could  say,  "Handle  Me  and  see;  for 
a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  Me  have ;" 
but  this  flesh-and-bones  embodiment,  Mr.  Russell  says, 
did  not  pertain  to  Christ,  but  was  only  miraculously 


82  WHY  I  REJECT 

created  for  the  occasion,  in  order  to  convince  the 
disciples  of  His  presence,  which  they  would  otherwise 
not  have  apprehended  or  with  certainty  have  identified. 

With  equal  unconscionable  dexterity  he  resolves  into 
nebulous  private  constructions  all  the  vivid  descrip- 
tions of  the  millennial  characteristics.  For  instance — 
as  explaining  Dan.  ii.  44,  which  represents  that  when 
the  God  of  heaven  shall  set  up  His  Kingdom,  "It  shall 
break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these"  historic  Gentile 
powers — he  says:  "In  harmony  with  this,  we  see 
all  about  us  evidence  of  the  beginning  of  the  smiting, 
shaking  and  overturning  of  the  present  powers,  pre- 
paratory to  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  which 
can  not  be  moved" — "the  strong  government"  (II, 
170).  "As  the  trouble  increases,  men  will  seek,  but 
in  vain,  for  protection  in  the  'dens'  and  caves,  the 
rocks  and  fortresses  of  society,  (Free  Masonry,  Odd 
Fellowship,  and  Trades  Unions,  Guilds,  Trusts,  and 
all  societies  secular  and  ecclesiastical),  and  in  the 
mountains  (governments)  of  earth;  saying,  Tall  over 
(cover,  protect)  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of  Him 
that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb ;  for  the  great  day  of  His  wrath  is  come'  "  ( Rev. 
vi.  15-17)  (II,  p.  139). 

It  would  be  tedious  to  go  further  into  details,  for 
it  is  a  limitless  maze  of  private  interpretations,  which 
one  man  is  as  much  at  liberty  to  make  as  another; 
which  no  two  would  ever  make  alike;  which  Mr. 
Russell,  however,  for  his  little  day  claims  to  be  "light 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  83 

now  first  due"  for  which  we  must  all  depend  abso- 
lutely upon  him,  even  if  for  two  years  at  a  time  we 
pay  no  attention  to  our  Bibles  excepting  as  referred 
to  and  explained  by  him. 

3.    FALSE  TEACHING  AS  TO  THE  PURPOSE  OF  THE 
MILLENNIUM. 

This  point  has  already  become  familiar  in  preced- 
ing stages  of  this  review.  Mr.  Russell  makes  the 
sole  purpose  of  the  Millennium  to  be  universal  restora- 
tionism.  He  denies  all  full  human  accountability  since 
Adam's  fall  on  the  score  of  human  ignorance  and 
moral  inability.  He  conceives  that  the  Millennium 
is  to  be  the  first  reasonable  opportunity  of  probation 
for  any  member  of  the  race  but  Adam,  and  that  even 
Adam  will  then  have  his  better  chance,  because  he 
will  have  become  convinced  that  his  first  disobedience 
was  a  great  mistake.  Accordingly,  humanity,  living 
and  dead,  will  be  placed  under  tutelage  and  favoring 
influences  during  the  Millennium  to  enable  them,  with 
full  light  and  moral  attainment,  to  make  good  their 
choice  of  obedience  and  to  gain  the  reward  of  endless 
existence  in  restored  Adamic  perfection. 

This  denial  of  all  real,  final  accountability  of  men 
to  God  up  to  the  present  and  to  the  time  of  the  resur- 
rection of  all  the  dead  and  the  time  of  the  Millennial 
age,  is  something  undreamed  of  by  the  universal 
human  conscience,  something  without  a  scintilla  of 
Scripture  testimony.  We  read  of  the  workings  of 


84  WHY  I  REJECT 

the  universal  conscience — "the  candle  of  the  Lord, 
searching  all  the  inward  parts  of  the  belly"  (Prov. 
xx.  27) — in  Rom.  ii.  14,  15:  "For  when  the  Gentiles, 
which  have  not  the  law  [of  Moses],  do  by  nature 
the  things  contained  in  the  law,  these,  having  not  the 
law,  are  a  law  unto  themselves;  which  show  the  work 
of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their  conscience 
also  bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  meanwhile 
accusing  or  else  excusing  one  another." 

Again,  we  read  in  the  first  chapter  of  Romans  re- 
garding the  accountability  of  Gentile  mankind,  living 
outside  of  Scriptural  illumination :  "For  the  wrath 
of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ungodli- 
ness and  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  hold  the  truth 
in  unrighteousness ;  because  that  which  may  be  known 
of  God  is  manifest  in  them;  for  God  hath  showed 
it  unto  them.  For  the  invisible  things  of  him  from 
the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  under- 
stood by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  His  eternal 
power  and  Godhead ;  so  that  they  are  without  excuse : 
because  that,  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified  Him 
not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful;  but  became  vain 
in  their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was 
darkened.  *  *  *  Who  changed  the  truth  of  God 
into  a  lie,  and  worshipped  and  served  the  creature 
more  than  the  Creator.  *  *  *  And  even  as  they 
did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God 
gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  those 
things  which  are  not  convenient; — who  knowing  the 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  85 

judgment  of  God,  that  they  which  commit  such  things 
are  worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  have 
pleasure  in  them  that  do  them"  (vss.  18-21,  25,  28,  32). 

The  whole  tenor  of  Scripture  is  consistent  with 
these  proofs  of  adequate  original  moral  sense  and 
strength,  and  of  moral  degradation  and  darkness  as 
the  judicial  consequence  of  stifling  and  deadening  con- 
science and  extinguishing  unwelcome  light  through 
deliberate  hatred  of  God.  The  verdict  of  God  upon 
all  past  incorrigibles  is:  "Thou  *  *  *  after  thy 
hardness  and  impenitent  heart  treasurest  up  unto  thy- 
self wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  and  revelation 
of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God;  who  will  render 
to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds:  to  them  who 
by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  seek  for  glory 
and  honor  and  immortality,  eternal  life :  but  unto  them 
that  are  contentious,  and  obey  not  the  truth,  but  obey 
unrighteousness,  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and 
anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil,  of 
the  Jew  first,  and  of  the  Gentile;  but  glory,  honor, 
and  peace,  to  every  man  that  worketh  good,  to  the 
Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile: — For  as  many  as 
have  sinned  without  law  shall  also" — be  given  their 
first  real  chance  after  their  resurrection  in  the  Mil- 
lennium? No!  but — "shall  also  perish  without  law: 
and  as  many  as  have  sinned  in  the  law  shall" — be 
given  a  more  favorable  chance  in  the  Millennium? 
No!  but — "shall  be  judged  by  the  law"  (Rom.  ii. 
5-12). 


86  WHY  I  REJECT 

4.     FALSE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  OUTCOME  OF  THE 
MILLENNIUM. 

Mr.  Russell  makes  the  Millennium  to  be  the  final 
stage  of  probation,  as  well  as  the  time  of  universal 
resurrection.  But  both  of  these  positions  are  con- 
tradicted by  the  plain  testimony  of  Scripture. 

First,  the  millennial  resurrection  is  not  complete, 
but  partial.  "And  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ 
a  thousand  years.  But  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived 
not  again  until  the  thousand  years  were  finished.  This 
is  the  first  resurrection.  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that 
hath  part  in  the  first  resurrection:  on  such  the  second 
death  hath  no  power,  but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God, 
and  of  Christ,  and  shall  reign  with  Him  a  thousand 
years"  (Rev.  xx.  4-6).  Other  Scriptures  agree  with 
this  distinguishing  of  resurrections  both  as  to  time 
and  kind.  See  Dan.  xii.  2;  Luke  xiv.  14;  John  v.  29. 
And  nowhere  is  it  indicated  that  the  first  resurrection 
is  unto  a  new  probation,  but  it  is  exclusively  a  resur- 
rection unto  reward  for  faithfully  fulfilled  probation. 

Secondly,  the  millennial  probation  (of  existing  gen- 
erations, not  resurrected  ones)  is  represented  by  Scrip- 
ture not  to  be  the  last  probation.  Once  more,  after 
the  millennial  reign  of  Christ  with  all  its  privileges 
and  achievements,  unregenerate  men  will  be  given 
the  chance  to  prove  that  the  "heart  of  man  *  *  * 
is  desperately  wicked."  "And  when  the  thousand 
years  are  expired,  Satan  shall  be  loosed  out  of  his 
prison,  and  shall  go  out  to  deceive  the  nations  which 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  87 

are  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth  *  *  *  to 
gather  them  together  to  battle:  the  number  of  whom 
is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea.  And  they  went  up  on  the 
breadth  of  the  earth,  and  compassed  the  camp  of  the 
saints  about,  and  the  beloved  city :  and  fire  came  down 
from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  devoured  them"  (Rev. 
xx.  9).  This  shows  conclusively  that  the  millennial 
age  does  not  merge  at  once  into  the  eternal  condi- 
tions, into  the  everlasting  life  of  the  obedient  and  the 
second  death  of  the  disobedient,  as  Mr.  Russell  teaches ; 
but  that  Satan  is  to  be  let  loose  in  the  earth  once 
more,  to  carry  out  his  final  and  supreme  effort  to  hold 
the  dominion  of  this  world  through  the  instrumentality 
of  incorrigible  men;  and  the  supreme  visitation  of 
God  upon  rebellious  man  will  follow  that  final  re- 
bellion. It  is  only  afterwards  that  the  final  judg- 
ment of  all  humanity  until  then  unresurrected  shall 
occur.  This  is  all  clearly,  but  briefly,  set  forth  in 
Rev.  xx.  7-15.  The  writer  has  confidence  that  God 
means  just  what  He  says  here,  that  He  has  meant  it  to 
be  clear  to  every  reader  since  it  was  given,  and  that 
He  has  left  no  light  to  "become  due"  from  this  pas- 
sage when  conscienceless  deceivers  shall  arise  to  pose 
as  His  latter-day  interpreters. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MR.  RUSSELL'S  PSEUDO-CHRIST. 

The  real  criterion  of  any  system  of  religious  doc- 
trine is  the  answer  given  by  it  to  the  question, 
"What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  The  false  doctrine  of 
Millennial  Dawn  in  regard  to  Jesus  Christ  is  its  crown- 
ing shame.  Various  features  of  Mr.  Russell's  heretical 
teachings  on  the  person  and  work  of  Christ  have 
already  appeared,  but  it  is  important  to  gather  up 
in  one  a  complete  exhibit. 

His  doctrine  of  Christ  falls  naturally  into  three 
branches,  according  to  three  totally  distinct  and  diverse 
stages  of  Christ's  career.  These  three  branches  of 
teaching  may  be  placed  under  the  heads:  i.  The 
Pre-existent  Christ,  ii.  The  Earthly  Christ,  iii.  The 
Present  Christ. 

1.     THE  PRE-EXISTENT   CHRIST. 

Under  this  head  we  will  notice  several  points  suc- 
cessively which  will  be  recognized  by  any  devout 
reader  of  Scripture  as  grossly  heretical.  To  under- 
take serious  refutation  would  be  treating  these  teach- 
ings as  debatable. 

(1).  Although  pre-existent,  Christ  was  not  from 
eternity.  Mr.  Russell  denies  that  John's  statement 
(I,  1),  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,"  means 
that  Christ  existed  with  God  before  all  time,  and  he 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  89 

claims  that  Christ  was  not  eternal  with  the  Father 
(V,  86). 

(2).  In  other  words,  Christ,  though  a  pre-existent 
being  and  prior  to  all  other  creations  of  God  Almighty, 
was  yet  a  creature  of  God,  "the  beginning  of  creation" 
(in  a  false  sense).  "He  was  the  first,  the  direct  crea- 
tion of  God."  By  this  expression,  "the  direct  creation 
of  God,"  is  meant  that  all  other  created  things  were 
not  directly  created  by  the  Father  but  by  Him  through 
His  Son.  The  "Only  Begotten" — as  Jehovah's  repre- 
sentative, and  in  His  name — created  all  things — angels, 
principalities  and  powers,  as  well  as  the  earthly  crea- 
tion (V,  84).  It  is  a  question  which  Mr.  Russell  does 
not  seem  to  be  troubled  over,  how  a  creature,  even 
as  a  representative  of  God,  could  himself  be  a  creator. 
We  are  accustomed,  and  the  writer  believes  rightly 
so,  to  consider  Christ's  unquestioned  work  of  creating 
all  finite  existences  as  the  positive  proof  of  His  own 
absolute  deity. 

(3).  Not  only  was  Christ  but  a  creature ;  He  was  not 
even  divine  in  His  pre-existence.  Mr.  Russell  ac- 
cords to  Him  the  divine  nature  since  His  resurrection. 
But  he  distinguishes  between  deity  and  divinity,  and  at- 
tributes to  divinity  the  distinguishing  feature  of  im- 
mortality, deathlessness.  In  pre-existence  the  Son 
of  God  was  a  mortal  creature,  i.e.,  liable  to  death. 
Mr.  Russell  rules  out  from  application  to  the  pre- 
existent  Son  of  God  all  Scripture  testimonies  relating 
to  immortality. 


90  WHY  I  REJECT 

(4).  While  the  pre-existent  Son  of  God  is  made 
to  be  only  a  mortal  creature  of  God,  yet  godship  is 
allowed  to  Him,  but  a  non-divine  godship.  This  seems 
to  us  at  first  a  contradiction.  But  Mr.  Russell  oc- 
cupies nearly  one  hundred  pages  of  closely  printed 
matter  in  the  attempt  to  destroy  all  Scripture  testi- 
mony to  the  deity  of  the  Son  of  God.  Every  vital 
passage  is  taken  up  and  deprived  by  his  peculiar 
methods  of  its  vitality  and,  in  many  cases,  even  turned 
for  a  testimony  against  the  deity  of  our  Saviour.  The 
godship  allowed  to  Him  is  as  "a  god"  and  "a  lord" 
among  the  "gods  many  and  lords  many."  Speaking 
of  Christ  in  His  pre-existence,  Mr.  Russell  says :  "At 
that  time,  as  well  as  subsequently,  he  was  properly 
known  as  'a  god' — a  mighty  one.  As  chief  of  the 
angels  and  next  to  the  Father,  he  was  known  as  the 
Archangel  (highest  angel  or  messenger),  whose  name, 
Michael,  signifies,  'Who  as  God,'  or  God's  repre- 
sentative." 

(5).  This  denial  of  deity  to  Jesus  Christ  is  part 
of  Mr.  Russell's  denial  of  the  trinity,  a  doctrine  against 
which  he  displays  the  utmost  antipathy.  Along  with 
the  rest,  of  course  the  denial  not  only  of  the  deity 
but  even  of  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit  comes 
to.  The  following  somewhat  extended  quotation  em- 
bodies Mr.  Russell's  whole  doctrine  of  God. 

"There  is  consistency  in  the  Scripture  teaching  that 
the  Father  and  Son  are  in  full  harmony  and  oneness 
of  purpose  and  operation.  *  *  *  And  equally  con- 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  91 

sistent  is  the  Scripture  teaching  respecting  the  Holy 
Spirit — that  it  is  not  another  God,  but  the  spirit, 
influence  or  power  exercised  by  the  one  God,  our 
Father,  and  by  His  Only  Begotten  Son; — in  absolute 
oneness,  therefore,  with  both  of  these,  who  also  are 
at  one  or  in  full  accord.  But  how  different  is  this 
unity  of  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  from 
that  held  and  taught  under  the  name  of  Trinitarian 
doctrine,  which  in  the  language  of  the  Catechism 
(Questions  5  and  6)  declares,  There  are  three  per- 
sons in  the  One  God — the  Father,  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost:  'these  three  are  one  God,  the  same  in 
substance,  equal  in  power  and  glory.'  This  very  well 
suited  'the  dark  ages'  which  it  helped  to  produce. 
The  period  in  which  mysteries  were  worshipped  in- 
stead of  unraveled  found  a  most  choice  one  in  this 
theory,  which  is  as  unscriptural  as  it  is  unreasonable. 
How  could  the  three  be  one  in  person,  in  substance? 
And  if  only  'one  in  substance,'  how  could  they  be 
equal?  Does  not  every  intelligent  person  know  that 
if  God  is  one  in  person  He  can  not  be  three?  and 
that  if  three  in  person  there  can  be  only  one  sense 
in  which  the  three  could  be  one,  and  that  not  in  per- 
son but  in  purpose,  in  mind,  in  will,  in  co-operation? 
Verily,  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  this  trinitarian 
nonsense  was  drilled  into  us  from  earliest  infancy, 
and  the  fact  that  it  is  taught  in  Theological  Seminaries 
by  gray-haired  professors,  in  many  other  ways  ap- 
parently wise,  nobody  would  give  it  a  moment's  serious 


92  WHY  I  REJECT 

.consideration.  How  the  great  adversary  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  foisting  it  upon  the  Lord's  people  to  be- 
wilder and  mystify  them,  and  render  much  of  the 
Word  of  God  of  none  effect,  is  the  real  mystery  which 
will  probably  not  be  solved  until  we  'know  even  as 
we  are  known,'  in  glory"  (V,  165-6). 

Mr.  Russell  devotes  nearly  three  hundred  pages 
of  Vol.  V,  of  "Studies  in  the  Scriptures,"  to  the  sub- 
jects of  the  non-divine  personality  of  the  pre-existent 
Christ  and  the  non-personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
He  seeks  to  despoil  every  testimony  of  Scripture  that 
can  be  read  directly  in  favor  of  the  deity  of  our  Lord 
and  the  personal  deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Such  is 
"the  sleight  of  man"  brought  to  this  task,  that  abso- 
lute dependence  upon  these  human  writings  must  be 
maintained  for  this  understanding  of  the  Scriptures. 
It  is  evident  that,  if  one  read  the  Bible  only  for  two 
years,  without  reference  to  these  "Studies,"  one  would 
altogether  lose  this  "light"  (of  Mr.  Russell),  whereas 
one  might  for  two  years  read  only  the  "Studies"  and 
not  one  line  of  Scripture,  and  he  would  still  retain 
"the  light"  (of  Mr.  Russell's  denial  of  Christ's  deity 
and  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  personality  and  deity). 

2.     THE   EARTHLY   CHRIST. 

Under  this  head  we  notice  several  points  which 
equally  require  absolute  dependence  upon  our  "help- 
ing hand"  for  guidance. 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  93 

(1).  The  earthly  Christ  was  not  only  character- 
ized by  real  humanity  in  nature,  but  He  was  strictly 
and  solely  human.  As  has  before  been  shown,  Mr. 
Russell's  teachings  otherwise  require  that  Christ  Jesus 
should  be  the  exact  duplicate  of  Adam,  "nothing  more, 
and  nothing  less."  And  yet,  it  is  freely  admitted 
that  in  His  pre-existence  He  had  nothing  whatever 
of  the  human  in  Him.  How  could  He  be  so  abso- 
lutely metamorphosed? 

(2).  Mr.  Russell  develops  a  most  ingenious  theory 
for  this  entire  change  of  nature  in  Christ.  He  teaches 
that  a  "living  soul,"  or  "sentient  being,"  is  produced 
by  "the  union  of  the  breath  or  spirit  of  life  with  an 
organism."  In  the  case  of  a  man,  the  sentient  person 
is  the  result  of  the  breath  or  spirit  of  life  uniting 
with  a  human  bodily  organism.  The  being  is  not  in 
the  breath  or  spirit  of  life,  neither  is  the  being  in  the 
organism,  but  the  union  of  the  breath  or  spirit  of 
life  with  the  prepared  organism  produces  the  sentient 
being.  The  life  is  the  same  for  all  orders  of  being, 
the  difference  in  beings  resulting  wholly  from  the 
difference  in  organism  with  which  the  life-principle 
is  united. 

Now,  in  the  case  of  the  earthly  Christ,  Mr.  Russell 
affirms,  the  spirit  of  life  from  the  pre-existent  Son 
of  God  was  "transferred"  into  a  human  physical  or- 
ganism through  the  womb  of  Mary,  so  that  a  new 
sentient  being,  purely  human,  resulted.  This  person, 
though  born  through  a  maternal  channel  in  the  line 


94  WHY  I  REJECT 

of  the  fallen  Adam,  was  pure  from  Adamic  taint, 
because,  says  Mr.  Russell,  the  moral  nature  is  deter- 
mined by  the  paternal  parent  and  not  affected  by  the 
maternal  parent.  Christ,  being  supernaturally  pro- 
created in  Mary  by  God  Almighty,  became  a  pure, 
untainted  human  being.  His  identity  with  the  pre- 
existent  Christ  was  not  a  matter  of  personality,  but 
only  of  "spirit  of  life."  That  is,  the  spirit  of  life, 
which  in  union  with  another  organism  had  produced 
the  pre-existent,  angelic  Christ,  produced,  when  trans- 
ferred by  the  Almighty  into  another  organism,  the 
human  Christ  derived  through  the  body  of  Mary,  the 
"man  Jesus  Christ/'  As  Mr.  Russell  puts  the  matter, 
this  change  was  "merely  a  transference  of  his  life 
from  a  higher  or  spirit  nature  to  a  lower  or  human 
nature." 

(3).  But  it  was  not  a  transference  of  the  person, 
"the  sentient  being."  Where  then  was  the  Son  of 
God?  That  sentient  being  was,  of  course,  no  longer 
existent.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a  new  sentient  be- 
ing, only  that  He  lived  by  a  pre-existent,  impersonal, 
non-sentient  spirit  of  life,  which  in  another  organism 
had  produced  the  non-divine  Son  of  God.  In  His 
pre-existent  being  He  had  been  of  the  highest  angelic 
capacity.  In  his  new  being  He  was  limited  in  every 
respect  to  human  capacity.  Mr.  Russell  teaches  that 
Christ  Jesus  had  no  quality  superior  to  or  different 
from  any  other  man  unfallen.  All  the  divine  and 
supernatural  attending  His  life  and  ministry  was  not 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  95 

inherent,  not  belonging  to  Him  as  Philip's  "My  Lord 
and  my  God,"  or  as  "the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  but 
was  exclusively  the  operation  of  the  Father  through 
Him,  as  would  be  equally  possible  through  any  other 
perfect  man. 

(4).  As  we  have  previously  learned,  Mr.  Russell 
teaches  that  in  expiring  on  the  cross  Jesus  Christ  be- 
came extinct.  He  freely  admits  that  for  three  days 
all  that  had  ever  entered  into  the  pre-existent  Son 
of  God  or  the  earthly  Jesus  was  absolutely  non- 
existent. Organism  was  wrapped  in  death,  spirit  of 
life  was  extinguished.  The  Son  of  God,  the  man 
Christ  Jesus  annihilated!  We  fail  to  see  how  any 
weaker  expression  can  be  employed.  Let  the  reader 
think  for  a  moment  (and  shudder  at  the  thought) 
of  the  universe  being  for  three  days  without  so  much 
as  the  existence  of  the  Son  of  God. 

(5).  Finally,  it  is  not  only  the  fact,  according  to 
Mr.  Russell,  but  also  the  necessity  of  the  case,  that 
the  earthly  Christ  should  abide  in  extinction  perpet- 
ually, or  our  ransom-price  would  fail  of  perpetual  ef- 
fect. Therefore,  our  guide  through  the  Word  of  God 
teaches  that  nothing  that  was  given  up  by  the  earthly 
Christ  has  ever  been  resumed,  or  ever  will  be. 

3.     THE   PRESENT    CHRIST. 

We  will  now  endeavor  to  trace  under  a  few  points 

Mr.  Russell's  teachings  in  regard  to  the  present  Christ. 

(1).    Mr.  Russell  teaches  that  resurrection  is  not 


96  WHY  I  REJECT 

of  the  body  but  of  the  soul,  the  sentient  being ;  that  it  is 
from  unconsciousness,  from  death  in  the  sense  of  de- 
struction, of  extinction  of  existence.  He  claims,  though 
not  attempting  to  explain  how,  that  God  Almighty 
preserves  the  identity.  But,  if  such  identity  can  be 
credited  in  the  case  of  the  dead  generally,  how  can  it 
be  claimed  in  the  case  of  Jesus  Christ,  seeing  that  all 
that  was  given  up  must  necessarily  remain  perpetually 
extinct  as  the  continued  ransom-price? 

Consequently,  in  Christ's  case,  there  is  no  resur- 
rection of  His  body,  there  can  be  no  resurrection  of 
His  soul,  which  was  "poured  out  unto  death."  How 
can  there  be  any  identity  between  the  former  and  the 
present  Christ?  And,  indeed,  he  admits  that  in  the 
resurrection  of  men  in  general  there  is  really  a  "re- 
creation." Certainly,  it  must  be  so  in  the  case  of  this 
Christ  of  Mr.  Russell's  construction.  Only  in  a  most 
fictitious  way  can  He  be  called  "the  risen  One." 

(2).  This  present  Christ  is  taught  to  be  a  purely 
spirit-being,  with  nothing  of  humanity  inhering  in 
Him  any  more  than  in  His  pre-existent  state.  His 
organism  is  purely  spiritual,  not  bodily,  or  in  any  way 
capable  of  being  perceived  by  or  made  perceptible  to 
the  eye,  excepting  by  a  temporary  miracle  of  special 
manifestation.  Mr.  Russell  holds  that  it  was  thus  that 
Christ  was  apparent  to  His  followers  after  His  so- 
called  resurrection.  He  had  no  visible  form,  His  body 
was  not  restored  to  Him,  but  it  was  miraculously  re- 
moved from  the  tomb  and  secreted  by  God  from  all 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  97 

further  human  knowledge.  Hence,  whenever  Christ 
"appeared"  to  His  disciples  during  the  forty  days,  it 
was  by  a  miraculous  apparition.  So  also  when  He 
ascended,  it  was  simply  a  miraculously  produced  and 
temporary  visibility. 

In  like  manner  Christ  may  come  in  His  Second 
Advent  without  being  seen  and  without  anyone's 
knowledge  of  the  fact,  excepting  by  the  effects  gradu- 
ally appearing.  His  second  advent  "presence,"  it  is 
said,  will  produce  such  changes  in  human  society, 
political,  social,  moral  and  religious,  that  it  will  be- 
come evident  that  He  has  returned,  though  unseen. 
At  any  time  He  will  be  able  to  make  Himself  visible, 
if  He  so  please.  Indeed,  Mr.  Russell  claims,  Christ 
has  already  returned  in  His  second  advent  "presence" ; 
Mr.  Russell's  ministry  in  the  enlightening  of  the  re- 
ligious world  is  contemporaneous  with  and  explana- 
tory of  this  "presence"  of  Christ. 

(3).  As  has  been  previously  brought  out,  the  pres- 
ent Christ  is  for  the  first  time  in  His  career  divine. 
He  has  been  raised  into  spirit-being  again,  and  now 
first  of  the  divine  nature.  Indeed,  this  is  all  that  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  means;  it  is  not  a  resurrection 
of  His  body,  or  of  the  person  who  died,  but  it  is  a 
re-creation  resulting  in  a  being  whom  God  in  some 
inexplicable  way  identifies  with  His  pre-existent  Son 
and  with  the  earthly  Christ,  but  who  is  neither  one  now 
in  person,  nature  or  rank. 


98  WHY  I  REJECT 

This  does  not  mean  that  God  has  created  Him  in 
deity  but  only  as  the  highest  creature-spirit — higher 
than  He  was  before  in  that  now  He  is  immortal,  proof 
against  death,  which  Mr.  Russell  claims  is  an  exclusive 
attribute  of  God  and  is  the  characteristic  of  divinity. 
And  it  is  in  this  "exaltation"  that  Christ  has  first 
come  into  those  titles  which  we  have  been  wont  to 
attribute  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  namely,  the  Son  of 
Man,  the  second  Adam,  the  Root  and  Offspring  of 
David,  David's  Son  and  Lord,  the  Everlasting  Father, 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  These  titles  never 
belonged,  Mr.  Russell  tells  us,  to  the  Son  of  God  or  to 
the  earthly  Jesus.  He  did  not  possess  these  characters, 
even  incognito,  but,  as  a  reward  for  His  giving  Him- 
self up  to  extinction  of  human  being  for  the  first  Adam 
(and  his  race  included),  He  has  been  raised  up  to  a 
being  and  rank  which  have  attached  to  them  these 
various  titles.  It  may  well  be  asked  in  bewilderment, 
"Who  is  this  Son  of  Man?" 

(4).  The  purpose  of  this  "exaltation"  of  Christ  in 
his  present  being  is  to  make  Him  the  "Father"  of 
mankind  in  the  Millennial  age.  That  is,  He  is  to 
possess  mankind  as  His  children  in  place  of  the  seed 
which  He  might  have  procreated  had  He  not  forfeited 
that  right  for  our  redemption.  He  is  to  raise  all  man- 
kind into  the  privileges  of  the  Millenium,  train  them 
back  into  Adamic  condition  of  intelligence  and  moral 
ability,  counsel  and  persuade  them  as  a  father  to 
choose  "that  better  part"  which  before  had  been  re- 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  99 

jected  and  so  to  receive  the  gift  of  everlasting  life, 
i.e.,  a  never-ending  continuance  of  perfect,  self-suf- 
ficient human  existence. 

This  last  point  is  important,  a  "self-sufficient"  ex- 
istence. Mr.  Russell  disdains  the  idea  that  man  is  to 
be  regenerated  supernaturally  and  sustained  in  right- 
eousness by  the  grace  of  God.  Man  is  not  given  any- 
thing from  above  in  the  way  of  righteousness  further 
than  the  opportunity  and  the  light  and  the  paternal 
influence  to  lead  him  to  make  himself  what  he  ought 
to  be.  Consequently,  after  Christ  shall  have  raised  up 
right-minded  people  during  the  Millennium  to  a  state 
of  original  Adamic  perfection  and  to  a  state  of  self- 
chosen  and  self-wrought  righteousness,  His  exalted 
mission  will  be  over.  He  will  give  this  little  Cuba 
over  to  self-government  and  retire  from  all  sovereignty 
in  this  world.  One  can  not  but  pity  Him  for  this 
everlasting  retirement  from  the  occupation  for  which 
He  was  exalted  as  a  reward  for  His  sacrifice  on  the 
cross.  It  is  to  be  specially  noted,  however,  that  all 
of  this  paternal  activity  of  Christ  in  the  Millennium 
is  to  be  without  any  personal,  visible  presence  on  His 
part,  and,  indeed,  without  any  direct  action  on  His 
part ;  it  is  all  to  be  directly  carried  out  by  others,  His 
angels  and  the  members  of  His  body,  the  Church. 
Hence,  He  will  not  be  missing  His  occupation  in  the 
ages  after  the  Millennium  as  much  as  will  these  agents 
of  His  millennial  activities. 


100  WHY   I   REJECT 

We  have  entitled  this  Christ  the  "Pseudo-Christ." 
It  is  not  the  Christ  of  our  hearts  and  of  our  lives.  It 
is  not  the  Christ  of  Calvary  and  of  the  mercy-seat 
and  of  the  throne.  It  is  not  the  Christ  of  the  Word 
of  God,  it  is  not  the  "Christ  of  God."  We  have  not  in 
this  treatment  introduced  quotations  largely  from  Mr. 
Russell's  pen  for  the  reason  that  his  discussion  is  too 
voluminous,  labored  and  complicated.  But  this  ex- 
hibit of  Mr.  Russell's  Christ  has  been  given  in  fullest 
fidelity  to  his  conception.  Indeed,  it  would  be  utterly 
impossible  for  us  to  devise  such  a  portrayal,  and  dis- 
tortion of  Mr.  Russell's  conception  would  be  less  of- 
fensive than  a  faithful  exposition  thereof  has  to  be. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
MR.  RUSSELL'S  MANIFOLD  CHRIST. 

There  are  various  figures  employed  by  Scripture  to 
represent  the  relations  subsisting  between  our  Lord 
and  His  saints,  as  the  vine  and  the  branches,  the  house 
and  its  builder,  and  others.  But  one  figure  is  seized 
upon  by  Mr.  Russell  and  made  use  of  to  build  up  a 
doctrine  of  monstrous  error.  That  is  the  figure  of  the 
head  and  the  body,  While  this  representation  is  em- 
ployed several  times  ,in  Scripture,  Mr.  Russell  runs 
it  prominently  through  all  six  volumes  of  "Studies  in 
the  Scripture."  The  phase  he  puts  upon  the  figure  is 
that  Christ  is  not  individual  but  corporate,  not  single 
in  personality  but  manifold,  consisting  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  all  believing  members  of  Him.  This  is  obviously 
a  great  strain  upon  and  perversion  of  I  Cor.  12:  12: 
"For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many  members,  and 
all  the  members  of  that  one  body,  being  many,  are  one 
body :  so  also  is  Christ." 

The  Scripture  uses  this  figure,  not  as  representing 
that  Christ's  members  are  His  completion  and  fulness, 
but  that  He  is  the  fulness  of  believers,  filling  all  them 
in  all  respects.  Mr.  Russell  teaches,  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  personal  Christ  can  do  nothing  final  until  He 
is  added  to  by  t*ne  "little  flock."  He  is  a  trunkless 
body,  a  helpless  head. 


102  WHY   I    REJECT 

Another  text  that  to  him  is  fundamental  in  this 
line,  of  teaching  is  Colossians  I:  27:  "Which  is  Christ 
in  you,  the  hope  of  glory.'*  He  makes  this  mean  that 
your  hope  of  glory  consists  in  that  you  too  are  Christ, 
that  the  Christ  is  found  in  you  as  well  as  in  Jesus.  It 
is  not  the  indwelling  of  Christ  as  another  one  in  us, 
but  it  is  our  contributing  with  Him  to  constitute  a 
composite  Christ.  Taking  the  name  Christ  to  mean 
"The  Anointed/'  he  makes  the  anointed  to  be  "an 
anointed  company,"  including  with  Jesus  all  who  have 
"the  anointing/' 

We  quote  some  passages:  "The  Christ  is  not  one 
member,  but  many/'  "Unitedly  they  constitute  the 
promised  Seed,  the  Great  Deliverer"  (I,  82).  "The 
main  object  of  the  gospel  age  is  to  get  this  body  of 
Christ.  The  witnessing  to  the  world  during  this  age 
is  a  secondary  object"  ( I,  92) .  "The  gospel  age  began 
the  development  of  the  Christ"  (I,  85).  "This  was 
truly  a  mystery  never  before  thought  of,  that  God  in- 
tends to  raise  up  not  only  a  deliverer,  but  a  deliverer 
composed  of  many  members.  This  is  the  'high  calling' 
to  which  the  consecrated  believers  of  the  gospel  age 
are  privileged  to  attain"  (I,  84). 

It  will  be  necessary  to  bring  out  more  explicitly  the 
component  elements  of  this  general  doctrine. 

1.  Our  Lord  is  waiting  to  be  completed  as  the 
Christ  by  the  union  with  Him  in  glory  of  many  mem- 
bers of  like  nature.  We  must  remember  that  our  Lord 
is  now  wholly  non-human,  a  spirit  being  now  first  in 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  103 

divine,  i.e.,  immortal  nature.  His  members,  whom  He 
waits  for,  are  to  be  changed  from  human  to  divine 
nature  likewise  and  to  constitute  with  the  Almighty 
and  with  Jesus  Christ  so  many  immortals. 

With  Mr.  Russell  all  being  is  the  product  of  the 
union  of  the  universal  "spirit  of  life"  ("an , energizing 
principle  which  inheres  in  God,  but  which  in  his 
creatures  results  from  certain  causes  which  God  has 
ordained")  with  organism.  There  is  no  being  in  either 
spirit  of  life  or  organism  alone,  but  being  results  from 
their  union;  and  as  "all  life,"  Mr.  Russell  says, 
"whether  in  God  or  in  his  creatures,  is  the  same,"  the 
nature  of  any  being  depends  upon  the  rank  of  the 
organism  of  that  being.  "Thus  was  Adam  before  he 
fell  grander  than  any  other  earthly  creature,  not  by 
reason  of  any  difference  in  the  life  principle  implanted, 
but  because  of  a  grander  organism"  (I,  209). 

We  are  told  that  Jesus  Christ  originally  consisted 
of  an  angelic  organism,  infused  with  the  principle  of 
life  by  the  Almighty ;  that,  when  He  came  below,  this 
spirit  of  life  was  disunited  from  that  angelic  organism, 
the  pre-existent  Christ  as  a  being  ceased,  and  that  same 
infusion  of  the  life-principle  was  imparted  to  a  human 
organism,  and  the  "man  Christ  Jesus"  resulted;  that, 
when  Jesus  died  as  our  ransom,  both  organism  and 
principle  of  life  became  extinct,  the  man  Christ  Jesus 
in  every  sense  became  extinct  and  forever  so;  that, 
after  three  days,  Christ  was  renewed  in  existence,  not 
either  the  pre-existent  or  the  human  Christ,  but  a  new 


104  WHY   I   REJECT 

Christ  by  virtue  of  the  infusion  of  the  principle  of  life 
by  Almighty  God  into  a  spirit  organism,  superior  to 
the  first  in  its  being  of  a  higher  type,  the  divine.  That 
which  constitutes  this  higher  type  of  nature  is  the 
attribute  of  immortality.  Never  before  was  the  Son  of 
God  "the  express  image  of  the  Father's  person."  "It 
is  this  quality,  which  pertains  only  to  the  divine  nature, 
that  is  described  by  the  term  immortality,  death-proof, 
a  synonym  for  divinity."  "As  the  Father  hath  LIFE 
IN  HIMSELF  (God's  definition  of  "immortality"— 
life  in  himself — not  drawn  from  other  sources,  nor  de- 
pendent upon  circumstances,  but  independent,  inherent 
life),  so  hath  He  given  to  the  Son  to  have  LIFE  IN 
HIMSELF  (John  5:26).  Since  the  resurrection  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  then,  two  beings  are  immortal"  (I, 
211). 

But,  the  Christ,  embracing  many  members  with  the 
head,  is  to  be,  when  constituted,  wholly  divine.  The 
"little  flock"  of  chosen  believers  are  to  be  changed  into 
equal  divine  nature  with  their  head,  Christ  Jesus.  "The 
reward  promised  to  those  who  walk  the  narrow  way 
is  the  'divine  nature' — life  inherent,  life  in  that  superla- 
tive degree  which  only  the  divine  nature  can  possess — 
immortality.  These,  when  born  from  the  dead  in  the 
resurrection,  will  have  the  divine  nature  and  form. 
This  immortality,  the  independent,  self-existent,  divine 
nature,  is  the  life  to  which  the  narrow  way  leads"  (I, 
210,  211). 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  105 

2.  The  entire  object  of  this  present  gospel  age  is 
this  "development  of  the  Christ,"  as  has  already  been 
said.  "Had  not  Jehovah  purposed  the  selection  of  the 
'little  flock,'  'the  body  of  Christ/  the  first  advent  would 
not  have  taken  place  when  it  did,  but  would  have  oc- 
curred at  the  time  of  the  second  advent,  and  there 
would  have  been  but  the  one.  For  God  evidently  de- 
signed the  permission  of  evil  for  six  thousand  years, 
as  well  as  that  the  cleansing  and  restitution  of  all  shall 
be  accomplished  during  the  seventh  thousand.  Thus 
seen,  the  coming  of  Jesus,  as  a  sacrifice  and  ransom  for 
sinners,  was  just  long  enough  in  advance  of  the  bless- 
ing and  restoration  time  to  allow  for  the  selection  of 
his  'little  flock'  of  'joint-heirs.'  This  will  account  to 
some  for  the  apparent  delay  on  God's  part  in  giving 
the  blessings  promised  and  provided  for  in  the  ransom. 
The  blessings  will  come  in  due  time,  as  at  first  planned, 
though,  for  a .  glorious  reason,  the  price  was  paid 
longer  beforehand  than  men  would  have  expected"  (I, 
94).  "Free  Grace  is  God's  provision  for  the  world  in 
general  during  the  Millennial  Age"  (I,  96).  "When 
the  called-out  company  is  complete,  then  the  plan  of 
God  for  the  world's  salvation  will  be  only  beginning. 
Not  until  it  is  selected,  developed,  and  exalted  to 
power,  will  the  Seed  bruise  the  serpent's  head"  (I, 
98).  "It  is  in  our  interest  that  the  reign  of  Christ  is 
separated  from  the  sufferings  of  the  Head  by  these 
eighteen  centuries"  (1,^93). 


106  WHY   I    REJECT 

3.  This  prize  of  glory  with  Jesus,  this  change  from 
human  to  divine  nature,  this  attainment  of  immortality, 
as  Mr.  Russell  explains  it,  must  be  laid  hold  of  by 
what  he  calls  "consecration."  He  insists  that  this  "call 
to  a  change  of  nature,  from  the  human  to  the  divine," 
is  the  only  call  of  the  gospel  age.  He  admits  that  but 
few  apprehend  its  character,  and  fewer  care  to  meet 
the  conditions  of  final  exaltation.  Mr.  Russell  focuses 
all  Scriptures  relating  to  a  present  life  of  devotion 
upon  this  "calling  to  a  change  of  nature"  as  it  has  been 
elucidated.  But  his  construction  of  consecration  is  cer- 
tainly very  peculiar. 

He  teaches  that,  while  the  ransom  price  paid  by 
Christ  is  to  be  made  available  to  all  mankind  in  the 
millennial  age,  and  not  until  then,  yet  it  can  be  ap- 
propriated in  belief  now.  By  so  doing  one  becomes 
justified  of  God;  that  is,  he  is  reckoned  by  God  as 
a  probationer  for  everlasting  human  life  as  it  will 
be  offered  to  all  in  the  millennium.  One  who  is  now 
thus  justified  gains  nothing  excepting  "reckonedly ;" 
but  he  does  become  eligible  thereby  as  an  applicant  for 
the  "high  calling,"  namely,  to  the  "change  of  nature" 
already  explained.  ''Those  who  are  justified  by  faith 
in  the  ransom  are  reckoned  of  God  as  holy  and  ac- 
ceptable." Only  such,  it  is  held,  have  anything  as  yet 
to  offer  to  God  in  sacrifice.  They  can  enter  upon 
the  "narrow  way"  by  voluntarily  and  forever  re- 
nouncing in  a  consecration  unto  death  all  the  human, 
earthly  blessings — secured  by  the  ransom,  to  be  offered 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  107 

to  mankind  in  the  millennium — which  they  have  al- 
ready taken  "by  faith."  We  will  give  some  of  Mr. 
Russell's  own  words. 

"Transformation  of  nature  results  to  those  who, 
during  the  Gospel  age,  present  their  justified  humanity 
a  living  sacrifice,  as  Jesus  presented  His  perfect  hu- 
manity a  sacrifice,  laying  down  all  right  and  claim  to 
future  human  existence,  as  well  as  ignoring  present 
human  gratification,  privileges,  rights,  etc."  (I,  199). 
"The  narrow  way,  while  it  ends  in  life,  in  immortality, 
might  be  called  a  way  of  death,  since  its  prize  is  gained 
through  the  sacrifice  of  the  human  nature  even  unto 
death.  Being  reckoned  free  from  the  Adamic  guilt 
and  the  death  penalty,  the  consecrated  ones  voluntar- 
ily surrender  or  sacrifice  those  human  rights,  reckoned 
theirs,  which  in  due  time  they,  with  the  world  in  gen- 
eral, would  have  actually  received.  As  'the  man  Christ 
Jesus'  laid  down  or  sacrificed  His  life  for  the  world, 
so  these  become  joint-sacrificers  with  him.  *  *  * 
They  sacrifice  and  die  with  him  as  human  beings,  in 
order  to  become  partakers  of  the  divine  nature  and 
glories  with  him"  (I,  212).  "These,  from  the  moment 
of  consecration  to  God,  are  no  longer  reckoned  as  men, 
but  as  having  been  begotten  of  God  through  the  Word 
of  truth — no  longer  human,  but  thenceforth  spiritual 
children.  If  you  have  been  begotten  of  the  Spirit,  Ye 
(as  human  beings)  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God"  (I,  226-7). 


108  WHY   I    REJECT 

4.  But  this  momentous  act  of  consecration  to  a 
non-human  life  and  future  must  be  lived  out  appro- 
priately. We  must  admit  that  this  is  a  perplexing  en- 
deavor, as  well  as  a  difficult  one.  In  the  first  place, 
who  can  think  out  what  a  non-human  life  should  be? 
In  the  second  place,  who  that  remains  to  all  practical 
purposes  as  much  human  as  ever  (as  witness  the 
Dawnites  themselves)  is  sufficient  for  such  a  life, 
especially  seeing  that  transformation  from  old  pro- 
pensities to  heavenly-mindedness  is  not  by  supernatural 
operation,  but  only  by  the  self-made  process  ? 

Mr.  Russell  does  not  disguise  the  fact  that  to  really 
win  the  prize  of  the  ultimate  change  of  nature  is  up  "a 
rugged,  steep,  narrow  way."  In  this  respect  he  draws 
the  sharpest  contrast  with  the  "way  of  holiness"  that 
is  reserved  for  mankind  in  general  in  the  millennial 
age.  The  way  to  immortality  has  been  a  way  which 
required  the  sacrifice  of  the  otherwise  lawful  and 
proper  hopes,  ambitions  and  desires — the 'sacrifice  for- 
ever of  the  human  nature.  But  the  way  to  human  per- 
fection, to  restitution — the  hope  of  the  world — will  re- 
quire only  the  putting  away  of  sin;  not  the  sacrifice 
of  human  rights  and  privileges,  but  of  their  improper 
enjoyment.  This  will  lead  to  personal  purification 
and  restoration  to  the  image  of 'God  as  enjoyed  by 
Adam  before  sin  entered  into  the  world. 

"The  way  to  actual  human  perfection  is  to  be  made 
very  plain  and  easy;  so  plain  that  none  may  mistake 
the  way;  so  plain  that  'the  wayfaring  man,  and  those 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  109 

unaccustomed  therewith,  shall  not  go  astray'  (Is.  35: 
8 — Leeser)  ;  so  plain  that  none  will  need  to  teach  his 
neighbor,  saying,  Know  the  Lord,  for  all  shall  know 
the  Lord  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest  (Jer.  31: 
34).  Instead  of  being  a  narrow  way  that  few  can 
find,  it  is  termed  a  'highway,'  a  public  roadway — not  a 
narrow,  steep,  difficult,  rugged,  hedged  by-way,  but  a 
way  specially  prepared  for  easy  travel — specially  ar- 
ranged for  the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  travel- 
ers. It  is  a  public  road,  open  to  all  the  redeemed — 
every  man.  Nor  will  these  be  reckoned  justified  and 
granted  a  reckoned  standing  of  holiness  and  perfection 
in  the  sight  of  God;  when  started  upon  this  highway 
of  holiness  they  may  go  up  thereon  to  actual  perfec- 
tion, as  a  result  of  endeavor  and  obedience,  to  which  all 
things  will  be  made  favorable  by  their  Redeemer,  then 
reigning  in  power.  Each  individual  will,  according  to 
his  necessities,  be  aided  by  the  wise  and  perfect  ad- 
ministration of  the  new  kingdom"  (I,  215-16). 

5.  After  this  probationary  experience  of  living  as 
non-human  beings  and  as  reckonedly  divine  beings,  the 
faithful  are,  at  the  arrival  of  the  Millennium,  to  un- 
dergo a  sudden  metamorphosis  in  organism,  by  which 
in  form,  as  well  as  already  in  character,  they  shall 
become  "by  so  much  better  than  the  angels." 

"In  the  beginning  of  the  millennial  age,  those  who 
now  walk  the  narrow  way  will  have  gained  the  great 
prize  for  which  they  ran,  immortality ;  and  being  thus 
clothed  with  the  divine  nature  and  power,  they  will 


110  WHY   I   REJECT 

be  prepared  for  the  great  work  of  restoring  and  bless- 
ing the  world  during  that  age.  With  the  end  of  the 
Gospel  age,  the  narrow  way  to  immortality  will  close, 
because  the  select  'little  flock'  that  it  was  designed  to 
test  and  prove  will  have  been  completed.  'Now  is  the 
accepted  (Greek,  dektos,  acceptable  or  receivable) 
time' — the  time  in  which  sacrifices,  coming  in  the  merit 
of  Jesus  and  becoming  dead  with  Him,  are  acceptable 
to  God — a  sacrifice  of  sweet  odor.  Death,  as  the 
Adamic  penalty,  will  not  be  permitted  forever;  it  will 
be  abolished  during  the  Millennial  age;  as  a  sacrifice 
it  will  be  acceptable  and  rewarded  only  during  the 
Gospel  age"  (I,  213-14). 

We  do  not  feel  slow  to  state  why  we  personally 
reject  all  this  doctrine  of  "the  Christ."  We  could  not 
accept  on  such  weighty  matters  teachings  which  are 
so  manifestly  throughout  but  a  tissue  of  specious  con- 
jectures and  special  interpretations.  But  there  are  be- 
sides some  special  points  of  objection. 

1.  We  cannot  accept  these  peculiar  definitions  of 
life,  being  and  nature.  It  is  sheer  juggling  with  terms 
to  make  life  a  mere  "energizing  principle,"  "the  same, 
whether  in  God  or  in  His  creatures."  For  example, 
"He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life,"  means  to  us  far  more 
than  that  in  having  Jesus  we  have  only  the  same  vital- 
izing principle  that  makes  a  worm  able  to  squirm. 
Being,  as  a  mere  product  of  impersonal  life-principle 
united  with  impersonal  organism,  is  another  vapid  idea 
that  neither  expounds  the  Word  nor  interprets  per- 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  111 

sonal  consciousness.  And  to  grade  "nature"  accord- 
ing to  the  scale  of  organism  is,  to  say  the  most,  as 
clear  as  mud.  It  is  impossible  to  escape  the  conclusion 
that  the  supreme  God  is  but  a  product  of  superior  or- 
ganism quickened  into  being  by  "the  infusion  of  life- 
principle." 

2.  The    confinement   of    immortality    to    God    (in 
whom  alone  immortality  is  indeed  inherent  originally), 
and  the  identifying  of  derived  immortality  with  divinity 
itself,  so  that  a  creature  who  becomes  immortal   (to 
use    Mr.    Russell's    theory)    thereby    becomes    "self- 
existent"  as  God  Himself,  is  a  mere  theory  to  suit  a 
purpose  which  is  not  supported  by  the  Word  of  God 
or  by  any  man's  sober  consciousness. 

3.  While  the  Word  of  God  is  rich  in  its  promises  of 
the  coming  exaltation  of  the  followers  of  Christ  Jesus, 
yet  it  is  ever  careful  to  leave  the  redeemed  adoring 
Him  in  His  matchless  worth,  His  infinite  superiority, 
with  whom  no  creature  is  equal  in  station,  nature,  at- 
tributes or  offices. 

4.  The   worst   feature   of   Mr.   Russell's   teaching 
here,  as  elsewhere,  is  his  exaltation  of  creature-self 
to  the  belittling  of  the  Son  of  God.     In  the  teaching 
being  at  present  treated  of,  we  reach  a  more  advanced 
stage  of  this  process  than  we  have  before  met.     The 
Scripture  teaches  that  "Ye  are  complete  in  Him,"  not 
that  He  is  yet  incomplete  without  you;  that  He  "fill- 
eth  all  in  all,"  not  that  He  is  as  yet  a  bodiless  head, 
waiting  to  be  mostly  filled  up  as  the  Christ  by  His  yet 


112  WHY   I   REJECT 

ungathered,  unprepared  members.  The  real  meaning 
of  it  with  Mr.  Russell  is  that  our  Lord  is  not  as  yet 
the  Savior  of  the  world  in  any  practical  sense,  but  is 
waiting  to  become  the  Savior  through  us.  This  crown- 
ing venture  of  his  daring  heresy  will  be  brought  out 
in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHRIST  JESUS  NOT  A  PRESENT  OR  A  SUFFI- 
CIENT REDEEMER. 

Mr.  Russell's  dominating  propensity  to  exalt  self 
and  degrade  Christ,  to  bring  Him  down  to  the  level 
of  the  creature  and  to  make  Him  insufficient  without 
the  sinful  creature,  has  become  more  and  more  appar- 
ent as  we  have  progressed.  This  spirit  of  antichrist 
in  his  heart  has  long  concealed  itself  from  the  per- 
ception of  many.  But  it  must  out,  and  out  it  has  come 
all  too  plainly  to  be  longer  doubted. 

Reference  was  made  in  the  early  part  of  our  writing 
to  Mr.  Russell's  more  recent  conflict  of  teaching  with 
his  early  doctrine.  Alterations  in  this  line  have  been 
made  only  measurably  in  the  six  volumes,  of  "Studies" 
which  we  have  been  especially  examining.  It  is  in  the 
"Watch  Tower"  and  the  oral  and  printed  utterances, 
which  are  more  directly  addressed  to  his  immediate 
and  acknowledged  followers,  that  disguise  has  been 
thrown  off.  As  was  said  before,  this  has  caused. a 
revolt  among  his  followers  "in  every  land  of  the 
world."  It  is  from  his  former  followers  that  we  have 
been  put  in  the  way  of  the  facts  and  their  proofs. 

This  contradiction  in  doctrine  is  on  the  most  vital 
point  of  Christ's  sacrifice  for  human  redemption.  In 
brief,  it  may  be  stated  thus:  that  Christ's  personal 


114  WHY   I   REJECT 

sacrifice  is  only  the  initial  part  of  the  price  of  man's 
redemption;  that  it  must  be  completed  by  the  joint- 
sacrifices  of  the  "little  flock"  of  the  Gospel  age ;  and, 
consequently,  no  provision  or  covenant  of  redemption 
is  yet  in  existence  and  operation,  the  Church  itself  not 
requiring  any  "blood  of  the  new  covenant."  Hence, 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  yet  qualified  as  a  Mediator  between 
God  and  man,  the  Church  has  no  need  of  Him  as  a 
Mediator,  the  world  can  not  have  Him  as  such  until 
His  sacrifice  is  completed  by  that  of  His  Church.  As 
the  Christ  is  manifold,  composite,  corporate,  not  indi- 
vidual and  personal,  so  the  ransom-price  is  manifold, 
the  Mediator  is  composite,  the  blood  of  atonement  is 
of  a  corporate  anti-typical  lamb. 

This  awful  doctrine  will  first  be  pointed  out  from 
the  "Studies."  Even  in  our  previous  chapter  (p.  107 
bottom)  a  quotation  was  given  that  involves  the  whole 
matter,  although  it  doubtless  passed  without  special 
suspicion.  It  was  this:  "As  the  'man  Christ  Jesus' 
laid  down  or  sacrificed  His  life  for  the  world,  so  these 
(the  'consecrated')  become  joint-sacrificers  with  Him. 
They  sacrifice  and  die  with  Him  as  human  beings,  in 
order  to  become  partakers  of  the  divine  nature  and 
glories  with  Him"  (I,  212). 

In  quoting  from  "Studies,"  the  purposed  alteration 
in  favor  of  the  afore-mentioned  evil  doctrine  will  be 
made  the  more  apparent  by  giving  in  parallel  columns 
the  passages  as  they  stood  in  the  old  editions  and  as 
they  now  stand  in  the  latest  edition. 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN 


115 


"The  sacrifice  of  Christ 
as  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Atonement  WHICH 
SEALED  the  New  Cove- 
nant" (V,  28). 

"These  New  Covenant 
blessings  have  been  con- 
firmed of  God  in  Christ, 
WHO  HATH  SEALED 
THE  NEW  COVENANT 
WITH  HIS  OWN  PRE- 
CIOUS BLOOD"  (Vol.  I. 
p.  113,  line  16). 

"All  were  sentenced  to 
death  because  of  Adam's 
disobedience,  and  all  will 
enjoy  (IN  THIS  LIFE  OR 
THE  NEXT)  a  full  oppor- 
tunity to  gain  everlasting 
life  under  the  favourable 
terms  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant" (Vol.  I,  p.  130,  bot- 
tom). 

"During  the  Gospel  age, 
the  New  Covenant  and  its 
blessed  heart-writing  and 
spirit-teaching  is  not  for 
the  ten  tribes,  nor  for  the 
two,  BUT  ONLY  FOR  THE 
REMNANT  SELECTED 
FROM  THE  TWELVE 
AND  THE  RESIDUE 
SELECTED  FROM 
AMONG  THE  GENTILES" 
(Vol.  Ill,  p.  298,  line  8). 

"The  Apostle  says  he- 
(Christ)  set  aside  the  typi- 
cal Law  Covenant  sacri- 
fices that  he  might  estab- 
lish the  second,  the  anti- 
typical,  the  real  sacrifice 
for  sins,  HIS  OWN  SAC- 
RIFICE,  HIS  OWN 
DEATH  AS  the  sealing  of 
the  New  Covenant  between 
God  and  men,  by  Himself, 
the  Mediator  of  the  New 
Covenant.  And  our  text 
tells  us  the  same  thing, 
that  it  was  the  'Man  Christ 
Jesus  who  gave  Himself  a 
ransom  for  all.'  "  (Vol.  V, 
p.  426,  line  26). 


"The  sacrifice  of  Christ 
as  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Atonement  FOR  SEAL- 
ING the  New  Covenant." 

"These  New  Covenant 
blessings  have  been  con- 
firmed of  God  in  Christ, 
WHOSE  PRECIOUS 
BLOOD  IS  TO  SEAL  THE 
COVENANT." 


"All  were  sentenced  to 
death  because  of  Adam's 
disobedience,  and  all  will 
enjoy  (in  the  MILLEN- 
NIAL AGE)  a  full  oppor- 
tunity to  gain  everlasting 
life  under  the  favorable 
terms  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant." 

"During  the  Gospel  age, 
the  New  Covenant  and  its 
blessed  heart-writing  and 
spirit-teaching  is  not  for 
the  ten  tribes,  nor  for  the 
two.  IT  MUST  FIRST  BE 
SEALED  BY  THE  BLOOD 
(DEATH)  OF  THE  MEDI- 
ATOR—HEAD AND  BODY 
FROM  JEWS  AND  GEN- 
TILES." 

"The  Apostle  says  he 
(Christ)  set  aside  the  typi- 
cal Law  Covenant  sacri- 
fices that  he  might  estab- 
lish the  second,  the  anti- 
typical,  the  real  sacrifice 
for  sins,  HIS  OWN  DEATH 
(AND  HIS  MEMBERS) 
FOR  the  sealing  of  the 
New  Covenant  between 
God  and  men,  by  Himself, 
the  Mediator  of  the  New 
Covenant.  And  our  text 
tells  us  the  same  thing, 
that  it  was  the  'Man  Christ 
Jesus  who  gave  Himself  a 
a  ransom  for  all.'  " 


116 


WHY   I   REJECT 


Other  quotations  equally  pertinent  and  forcible 
might  be  given,  but  space  forbids.  A  set  of  compar- 
isons between  statements  of  doctrine  in  the  "Studies" 
and  statements  on  the  same  doctrines  made  in  the 
"Watch  Tower"  is  given  below: 


"Only  by  handling  the 
Word  of  God  deceitfully 
can  any  be  blinded  to  the 
force  and  real  meaning  of 
this,  the  Lord's  testimony 
to  the  work  which  has 
b,een  accomplished  by  Our 
Great  Mediator  *  *  *  The 
thought,  and  the  only 
thought,  contained  in  it 
is  that  as  Adam,  through 
disobedience,  forfeited  his 
being,  his  soul,  all  his 
rights  to  life  and  to  earth, 
so  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord, 
by  His  death  as  a  corres- 
ponding price,  paid  a  full 
and  exact  offset  for  Father 
Adam's  soul  or  being  and 
in  consequence  for  all  his 
posterity"  (V,  428). 

"Papacy  has  substituted 
a  false  or  sham  sacrifice  in 
the  place  of  the  one  ever- 
lasting, complete,  and 
never-to-be-repeated  sacri- 
fice of  Calvary,  made  Once 
for  all  time.  *.»  *  The  base, 
or  foundation  truth,  upon 
which  the  truly  consecrat- 
ed or  sanctuary  class  is 
built,  is  that  our  Lord 
Jesus,  by  the  sacrifice  of 
Himself,  has  redeemed  All, 
and  will  save  to  the  utter- 
most all  who  come  unto 
God  by  Him,  without  any 
other  mediator,  without 
priest,  or  bishop,  or  pope, 
.and  Without  Any  Other 
Sacrifice — any  other  being 
an  abomination  in  God's 
sight,  as  teaching  by  im- 
plication the  insufficiency 


"God  has  provided  a  New 
Mediator  who  has  already 
given  his  life  a  redemption 
price — Jesus  the  Head  and 
the  Church  the  Body.  The 
finish  of  the  sacrifice  is  in 
sight"  ('09:  46). 

"It  is  the  merit  of  Jesus, 
*  *  *  which  must  be  sacri- 
ficed again  by  us  as  His 
members — That  is  to  Con- 
stitute Eventually  the  Ran- 
som-price of  the  whole 
world  of  mankind"  ('03: 
379). 


"By  divine  arrangement 
the  blood  or  death  of  his 
church  is  also  Made  Nec- 
essary" ('09:  13). 


"The  sacrifice  of  Christ, 
Head  and  Body,  has  pro- 
gressed for  over  eighteen 
centuries.  *  *  *  When  the 
High  Priest  *  *  *  shall  have 
finished  the  sacrificing  he 
will  apply  *  *  *  the  blood, 
his  own  blood,  the  blood 
of  his  members,  on  the 
mercy  seat  on  behalf  of 
all  the  people"  COO,  Febru- 
ary 15th,  page  62). 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  117 


of    Christ's    great    ransom- 
sacrifice"   (Vol.  Ill,  p.   103). 


"The      Atonement      Was  "Our   expectation   is   that 

Made,    so    far   as    God   was  Adam    Will    be    Atoned    for 

concerned,      eighteen     cen-  in  the  end  of  this  age"  ('09, 

turies    ago,     and    that    for  page  316). 


The  following  is  another  quotation  from  the  "Watch 
Tower,"  of  Jan.  15,  1909,  page  29 :  "As  already  shown, 
the  New  Covenant  .will  not  be  sealed,  ratified,  until 
the  sacrifice  of  The  Christ  shall  have  been  finished. 
And  the  finishing  of  these  sacrifices  closes  the  work 
of  this  great  day  of  sacrifice  and  atonement.  With 
the  second  presentation  of  the.  blood  of  atonement  in 
the  Most  Holy  at  the  end  of  this  age  the  New  Covenant 
with  Israel  will  be  sealed."  Is  not  this  a  "counting  of 
the  blood  of  the  covenant  a  common  thing"  ? 

It  has  only  been  recently  that  Mr.  Russell's  follow- 
ers have  been  coming  to  detect  that  he  has  been  sur- 
reptitiously teaching  such  vile  error  from  early  days. 
It  is  now  detected  in  such  a  passage  of  "Studies"  as  the 
following:  "Thus  it  is  shown  again  that  the  RE- 
DEEMER and  Restorer  is  spiritual,  HAVING 
GIVEN  UP  THE  HUMAN  A  RANSOM  FOR  ALL, 
and  that  from  this  highly  exalted  spiritual  CLASS  all 
blessings  must  proceed"  (I,  293-4).  Commenting  at 
St.  Louis  on  this  extract,  Mr.  Russell  said :  "What  do 
we  mean  by  this?  I  answer,  we  refer  not  only  to 
Jesus,  who  gave  up  His  human  nature,  but  also  to  the 
church." 


118  WHY   I   REJECT 

Mr.  Russell  even  avers  that  the  consecrated  ones  of 
this  age,  the  "joint-sacrificers,"  do  not  need  Jesus 
Christ  as  Mediator  or  any  mediator  at  all.  We  give 
the  following  extract  from  the  Souvenir  Report  of  the 
Watch  Tower  and  Tract  Society  Convention,  Niagara 
Falls,  1907,  Part  II,  page  69:  "Question  put  to  the 
editor  of  Zion's  Watch  Tower :  "Do  we  as  individuals 
need  Christ  as  our  Mediator  before  we  become  mem- 
bers of  His  Body"  ?  Answer  by  the  editor :  "I  answer 
that  if  we  had  needed  Christ  as  a  Mediator,  then  God 
would  have  provided  Him  as  a  Mediator,  and  the  fact 
that  God  did  not  provide  Him  as  our  Mediator  proves 
that  we  do  not  need  Him  as  such.  We  are  under  the 
Original  covenant,  which  required  no  mediator.  The 
Church  does  not  need  a  mediator."  But,  as  has  been 
shown,  Christ,  according  to  Mr.  Russell,  does  need 
us  to  make  Him  sufficient  as  Mediator  for  the  world  in 
the  millennial  age. 

But  we  now  reach  the  acme  of  this  impostor's  un- 
conscionable heresy  and  blasphemy.  He  distinguishes 
between  the  blood  of  Jesus  and  the  blood  of  the  New 
Covenant,  and  declares  that  "The  New  Covenant  is  not 
yet  in  existence."  He  tells  us  that  the  blood  of  the 
New  Covenant  was  not  poured  out  for  the  Church's 
benefit,  but  that  it  is  exclusively  for  the  world,  the 
Jewish  and  other  nations;  and  that  it  only  began  to  be 
poured  out  when  our  Lord  died,  and  that  it  has  been 
pouring  out  ever  since  by  the  death  of  the  members 
of  the  Church ;  and  that  when  the  last  member  of  the 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  119 

Church  shall  have  died,  then  the  blood  of  the  New 
Covenant  will  have  been  completely  poured  out.  Con- 
sequently Mr.  Russell  dares  to  go  to  the  length  of  even 
altering  Scripture,  and  that  of  the  most  sacred  char- 
acter. He  alters  the  words  with  which  Christ  Him- 
self announced  and  explained  the  exclusive  sealing 
element  of  the  New  Covenant,  namely,  in  Matt.  26: 
28:  "This  is  My  blood  of  the  new  covenant."  Mr. 
Russell  changes  this  to  read :  "This  is  the  blood  of  the 
new  covenant,"  and  explains  his  reason  for  the  change 
thus:  "When  our  Lord  said,  'This  cup  is  the  blood 
of  the  New  Covenant,"  we  should  understand  that, 
primarily  the  cup  is  His,  and  secondarily  it  is  ours" 
("Watch  Tower,"  Jan.  1,  1909,  page  12).  And  this 
alteration  of  "my"  to  "the"  is  not  the  only  one  the 
"Watch  Tower"  has  taken  the  liberty  to  make  in  the 
divine  Word. 

When  confronted  with  these  contradictions  in  his 
doctrines,  especially  on  such  vital  doctrines,  Mr.  Rus- 
sell calls  them  "trifling"  at  one  time,  "elucidation"  of 
the  old  teachings  at  another  time.  Again,  he  explains 
it  thus:  "In  our  issue  of  1906,  page  26,  we  said, 
'Our  Lord  Jesus,  in  His  own  person,  has  been  the 
Mediator  between  the  Father  and  the  household  of 
faith,  during  the  Gospel  age.'  This  statement  is  in- 
correct. No  Scripture  so  declares.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
smoke  of  the  dark  ages,  which  we  are  glad  now  to 
wipe  from  our  eyes"  ("Watch  Tower,"  Sept.  15,  1909, 
page  283). 


120  WHY   I   REJECT 

Has  not  enough  been  written  to  show  cause  for  re- 
jecting such  a  treacherous  and  misleading  "Helping 
Hand"?  We  feel  sure  our  readers  must  be  wearied 
and  nauseated,  as  we  are  ourselves.  The  impudence 
and  impiety  of  a  man  who  trifles  with  the  truth,  the 
Deity,  the  inspired  Word  and.  the  interests  of  im- 
mortal souls,  as  does  Mr.  Russell,  is  amazing.  That 
he  should  expect  intelligent  persons  to  swallow  such 
wormwood  and  gall  is  insulting.  That  thousands  are 
found  to  be  duped  with  such  trickery  and  deceit,  in 
lands  where  the  Bible  is  not  chained  but  is  open  as 
the  daily  newspapers,  is  appalling.  That  many  of  his 
followers  in  all  parts  of  the  world  are  drawing  back 
and  separating  from  him,  because  of  the  abyss  of  error, 
falsehood  and  damnation  into  which  they  see  he  is 
plunging  them,  is  encouraging.  If  God  shall  use  our 
unworthy  effort  toward  averting  the  evil  which  is 
being  done  and  in  furthering  happier  issues,  we  shall 
feel  abundantly  rewarded. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
ARRAIGNMENT  OF  MILLENNIAL  DAWN. 

A  careful  examination  of  this  system  of  false 
doctrine,  by  means  of  the  latest  edition  of  "Studies  in 
the  Scriptures"  and  of  the  periodical,  "The  Watch 
Tower," — the  former  of  which,  a  series  of  seven  com- 
pact volumes,  is  published  by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands and  almost  given  away  in  well-bound  copies  as 
"A  Helping  Hand  for  Bible  Students," — impels  us  to 
expose,  in  a  summary  -form  under  seven  chief  captions, 
its  flagrant  denials  of  the  gospel  of  God.  The  osten- 
sible author,  C.  T.  Russell,  has  offered  to  us  in  these 
writings  a  compound  of  the  heretical  teachings  of  the 
last  nineteen  centuries,  which  he  now  casts  out  of  his 
mouth  as  a  flood,  that  he  might  cause  incautious 
readers  "to  be  carried  away  of  the  flood"  (Rev.  xii. 
15). 

I.  THE  BIBLE.  He  handles  the  Word  of  God 
deceitfully. 

1.  He  offers  the  Bible  to  us  as  capable  of  being  un- 
derstood only  by  means  of  his  interpretation.  He  pro- 
fesses to  give  in  "Studies  in  the  Scriptures"  the  ex- 
haustive exposition  of  all  and  every  Scripture.  These 
volumes  he  declares  to  be  "the  Bible  in  an  arranged 
form,"  yea,  "they  are  practically  the  Bible  itself."  He 


122  WHY   I   REJECT 

declares  them  to  be  in  -such  a  sense  "the  light  of  the 
Scriptures,"  that  "people  cannot  see  the  Divine  Plan 
in  studying  the  Bible  by  itself/*  Indeed,  he  declares 
that  if  one,  after  obtaining  the  interpretation  of  the 
Bible  from  his  Studies,  then  makes  use  of  the  Bible 
alone  without  the  Studies,  "within  two  years  he  goes 
into  darkness,"  whereas  "if  he  had  merely  read  the 
Studies  with  their  references,  and  had  not  read  a  page 
of  the  Bible,  as  such,  he  would  be  in  the  light  at  the 
end  of  two  years."  It  follows,  then,  that  our  only 
light  is  the  Russellized  Bible,  and  that  the  Word  of 
God  never  was  the  lamp  to  one's  feet,  the  light  to  one's 
path,  until  it  became  Russellized. 

2.  He  represents  God  as  purposely  secreting  from 
human  knowledge  throughout  the  past  six  thousand 
years  the  most  vital  truths  of  revelation.  Not  only 
does  he  claim  to  be  the  first  reliable  and  exhaustive 
interpreter  of  the  Scriptures,  but  he  also  claims  that  by 
God's  express  plan  his  teachings  are  "the  light  now 
first  due."  He  denies  that  the  writers  of  Scripture 
understood  at  all  reliably  or  largely  their  own  utter- 
ances ;  he  asserts  that  nineteen  centuries  of  Bible  study 
and  teaching  have  progressed  mostly  in  "the  smoke," 
and  that  God  meant  it  to  be  so  and  that  he  should  be 
the  first  and  exclusive  revelator  of  the  sense  of  God's 
entire  Bible.  He  explicitly  defines  this  as  "the  divine 
purpose  of  concealing  the  truth  until  the  due  time  for 
it  to  be  understood." 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  123 

3.  He  obtains  his  sense  of  Scripture  by  means  of 
key-words  chosen  and  capriciously  explained  by  him- 
self, by  a  continual  paraphrasing  of  Scripture  language 
in  a  way  to  suit  his  own  mind,  by  false  translations  of 
the  original,  and  even  by  sacrilegious  alteration  of  the 
very  language  of  Scripture. 

4.  His  followers  and  associates  tell  us  that  with 
them,  as  not  with  the  public,  he  is  undisguised  in  "the 
presumptuous   claim   of  being  the   'only   channel'   of 
truth,  the  only  one  qualified  and  authorized  to  interpret 
God's   Word,"   while  exposing  to  them   "a   mass   of 
evidence  of  his  spiritual  degeneracy."     "Nevertheless, 
he  does  not  hesitate  to  consign  to  'second  death,'  'outer 
darkness,'    etc.,    any    who    differ    with    him    on    any 
matters." 

II.  THE  GODHEAD.  He  denies  the  Godhead  of  the 
Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy.  Ghost.  His  doctrine  is 
strictly  Unitarian. 

1.  He  makes  God  Almighty  to  be  a  solitary  being 
from  eternity,  who  is  unrevealed  and  unknown,  not 
only  in  any  direct  way,  but  even  in  any  mediate  way, 
for  no  one  has  existed  as  His  equal  to  reveal  Him. 

2.  He  denies  to  Jesus  Christ  all  deity  and  makes 
Him  in  His  pre-existence  to  have  been  only  a  finite, 
mortal  creature,  though  the  highest  of  all  creatures. 
He  is  to  be  called  only  "a  god/'  as  there  are  "gods 
many,  and  lords  many,"  a  "mighty  one,"  a  hero.     He 
is  the  "only  begotten  Son"  simply  because  God  gen- 


124  WHY   I   REJECT 

erated   only   Him,   while   Christ   generated  all   other 
creatures. 

3.  He  denies  all  being  and  personality  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  makes  Him  to  be  only  mind,  power  or  in- 
fluence, whether  of  God,  of  Christ,  or  of  any  holy  per- 
son. All  expressions  and  evidences  of  the  Spirit's 
personality  are  ignored  by  Mr.  Russell,  or  easily 
brushed  aside  by  his  method  of  interpretation.  The 
saints'  "fellowship"  and  "communion"  with  the  "other 
Comforter"  is  of  no  present  weight  or  value,  however 
much  of  delusive  "consolation"  it  may  have  afforded 
them  all  these  past  centuries. 

III.  MAN.  His  teachings  as  to  human  being,  life 
and  death  are  false. 

1.  He  represents  life  to  be  a  principle  common  to 
all  beings,  whether  God,  man,  animals  or  plants.  Being 
results   from  the  infusion   of  this   life-principle  into 
organism,  the  nature  of  the  being  resulting  wholly 
from  the  kind  of  organism.  Man  results  spontaneously 
from   the   impartation   of   life-principle   to   a   human 
bodily  organism.     Extinction  results  necessarily  from 
the  separation  of  the  life-principle  from  the  organism. 
This  is  all  a  denial  of  man's  true  creation  and  of  his 
immortality  of  spirit,  the  latter  being  a  truth  which  Mr. 
Russell  utterly  repudiates. 

2.  He  makes  death  to  be  an  extinction  of  being, 
whether  in  beast  or  man,  or  even  in  Christ   Him- 
self.   And  he  allows  no  more  to  death,  as  the  penalty 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  125 

of  sin,  than  a  forfeiture  of  right  to  continued  ex- 
istence, and  no  more  to  "everlasting  life"  than  never- 
ending  existence.  He,  therefore,  allows  no  moral  or 
spiritual  character  to  any  Scriptural  terms  of  life  and 
death;  they  mean  only  the  departure  of  the  life- 
principle  from  organism,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
continuance  of  the  universal  life-principle  in  organism, 
on  the  other.  There  is  no  such  thing,  then  as  "the  gift 
of  eternal  life"  as  a  present  boon  from  heaven  to  us 
mortals,  but  only  as  a  finally  unending  continuance  of 
our  existence  in  our  own  human  nature.  Accordingly, 
Adam  did  not  die  in  the  day  he  sinned  but  only  began 
to  journey  toward  the  tomb.  "She  that  liveth  in  pleas- 
ure" can  not  in  any  moral  or  spiritual  sense  be  said  to 
be  "dead  while  she  liveth,"  neither  can  it  be  said, 
"nevertheless  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 
3.  The  "second  death"  is  described  as  extinction 
of  being  the  second  time,  to  last  forever.  This  means 
'the  annihilation  of  the  finally  disobedient,  an  old  doc- 
trine of  the  devil. 

IV.  RESTITUTION.  He  teaches  future  probation  for 
all  the  dead. 

1.  He  falsely  interprets  the  Scriptural  promise  of 
"the  restitution  of  all  things."  What  refers  to  a 
restoration  of  earthly  dominion  to  Israel  and  to  its  at- 
tendant circumstances,  he  capriciously  construes  to 
refer  to  a  "future  probation"  and  restoration  of  man- 
kind in  general. 


126  WHY   I    REJECT 

2.  He  claims  that  only  Adam  has  had  a  probation 
for  everlasting  life,  that  even  he  will  and  must  have  a 
"second  probation"  before  he,  now  extinct,  can  obtain 
that  life.    All  others  have  died  in  consequence  of  father 
Adam's  sin  and  have  not  been  as  yet  on  trial  at  all  for 
their  final  destiny.    Indeed,  he  teaches,  God  is  permit- 
ting sin  without  probationary  restraint  or  accountabil- 
ity for  full  six  thousand  years,  with  no  other  end  in 
view  than  to  give  mankind  a  thorough  experience  of 
the  natural  results  of  evil  doing. 

3.  The  time  of  this  first  general  probation  of  men 
individually  is  set  for  the  Millennium,  the  "seventh 
thousand  years,"  when  man's  past  experience  in  sin 
will,   it  is  supposed,  serve  as  a  deterrent  and  as  a 
spur  to  take  the  most  favorable  opportunity  of  the 
Millennium  to  do  well. 

4.  Most  offensive  is  his  definition  of  resurrection. 
He  belittles,  almost  eliminates,  the  bodily  resurrection 
of  the  Scripture ;  and  he  interprets  the  word  as  a  rais- 
ing up  of  man  to  Adamic  perfection  through  the  favor- 
ing  influence   of   the   thousand   years   to   follow   the 
return  to  earth  of  the  generations  of  men  now  dead, 
or  extinct,  as  he  makes  out. 

5.  In  all  this  conglomerate  doctrine  of  being,  life, 
death,  resurrection,  it  is  evidently  impossible  to  estab- 
lish  any  identity  of  being  and  personality  between 
man's  first  and  second  existences;  yet  this  does  not 
trouble  Mr.  Russell  at  all.    But  an  extinct  memory,  an 
extinct  conscience,  an  extinct  personality,  no  kind  of 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  127 

resurrection,  not  even  a  re-creation,  can  restore.  The 
very  term  resurrection  pre-supposes  unbroken  identity, 
an  unsuspended  intelligence,  conscience  and  person- 
ality. 

6.  All  ordinary  meaning  of  "judgment,"  as  a  moral 
settlement  of  accountable  acts,  he  entirely  expunges 
and  replaces  with  the  idea  of  a  mere  disciplinary  train- 
ing in  this  coming  probation  by  which  the  way  to  self- 
perfecting  by  gradual  degrees  during  the  thousand 
years  will  be  made  easy. 

So  betwitched  is  the  heart  of  many  that  this  mess  of 
heresy  finds  welcome,  encouraging  men  carelessly  to 
say,  "Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  tomorrow  we  die"  (be- 
come extinct,  to  be  given  another  and  a  better  chance 
later  on  to  mend  our  ways  and  inherit  everlasting  life), 

V.  CHRIST.  He  takes  away  the  known  for  an  un- 
known Christ. 

1.  As  already  said,  he  denies  that  "the  Word  was 
God"  (John  i.  1),  and  reads  it,  'the  Word  was  a  god, 

a  mighty  one,  as  many  others  are  so  called,  angels  or 
men.'  Christ  was  merely  the  highest  of  all  creatures, 
mortal  at  that. 

2.  He  insists  that  "the  man  Christ  Jesus"  was  not 
the  being  of  prior  existence ;  only  the  life  principle  of 
His  former  being  was  "transferred"  into  a  new  and 
purely  human  organism,  so  that  a  merely  human,  un- 
known, untried  being  was  the  result. 


128  WHY   I    REJECT 

3.  This   Jesus   simply   was   and   did   what   Adam 
might  and  should  exactly  have  been  and  done. 

4.  Upon  dying  Jesus  became  extinct  altogether,  as 
His  human  organism  perished  for  lack  of  the  life- 
principle.     His  life-principle  was  forever  forfeited  as 
our  ransom,  so  that,  as  Mr.  Russell  says,  "the  man 
Jesus  is  dead,  forever  dead." 

5.  He    denies   the    resurrection   pf   Jesus    Christ, 
whether  of  His  body  or  of  His  sentient  being.    Noth- 
ing of  the  known  Christ  of  Bethlehem,  of  Nazareth  or 
of  Calvary  was  resumed  after  death,  or  ever  will  be. 

6.  The  present  Christ  is  made  up  by  Mr.  Russell 
of  a  new  portion  of  universal  life-principle,  united  to 
an  entirely  new  organism,  resulting  in  an  entirely  new 
"sentient  being,"  neither  the  one  prior  to  earthly  birth 
nor  the  one  known  in  Gospel  record.     In  this  "spirit 
being,"  not  God  indeed  or  man  at  all,  a  so-called  Christ 
is  said  to  be  of  higher  rank  than  was  the  pre-existent 
Christ,  in  that  he  possesses  the  divine  attribute  of  im- 
mortality, i.e.,  of  perpetually  self-sustaining  existence, 
the  only  being,  besides   God  himself,  who  as  yet 
possesses  immortality. 

7.  "Who  is  this  Christ?"    He  was  never  known  in 
the  Father's  eternal  bosom  or  to  the  angelic  hosts  of 
old.     He  never  was  known  to  Mary,  to  Simeon,  to 
John  the  Baptist,  to  the  Twelve,  to  Mary  Magdalene 
or  to  Mary  of  Bethany,  to  the  woman  of  Samaria,  to 
Lazarus,  to  Pilate  and  Herod,  to  the  centurion  at  the 
cross  or  to  the  dying  thief.    Under  grossest  deception 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  129 

did  this  "spirit-being  now  first  of  divine  rank"  show 
"himself  alive  after  His  passion  by  many  infallible 
proofs"  as  the  "Jesus"  those  eleven  disciples  had 
known.  Most  falsely  did  the  dying  martyr  assert,  "I 
see — the  Son  of  man  standing  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,"  and  it  was  only  for  stage  effect  that  he  gave 
himself  up  into  "extinction,"  saying:  "Lord  Jesus,  re- 
ceive my  spirit."  And  how  awfully  this  "spirit-being, 
now  first  of  divine  order,"  lied  to  Saul  of  Tarsus, 
when  He  said  to  the  trembling  inquirer,  "I  am  Jesus, 
whom  thou  persecutest."  And  He  keeps  up  the  lie 
to  the  very  end  in  saying  (Rev.  22,  16,  20)  :  "I  Jesus 
have  sent  mine  angel  to  testify  unto  you  these  things 
in  the  churches.  Surely  I  come  quickly.  Amen." 

VI.     THE    CHURCH.      The    Church    of   Millennial 
Dawn  is  a  repulsive  pretense. 

1.  He  denies  that  there  is  any  call  as  yet  to  ever- 
lasting life;  that  is  reserved  for  mankind  in  the  Mil- 
lennium. 

2.  The  only  call  now  is  to  "complete  the  body  of 
Christ."    Christ  is  as  yet  a  trunkless  head  and  not  "the 
Christ"  at  all,  which  is  a  corporate,  manifold  organism 
of  head  and  members. 

3.  The  many   "anointed"   ones,   who,   with   Jesus 
Christ,  are  to  constitute  THE  ANOINTED,  THE 
CHRIST,  are  during  this  dispensation  being  called  and 
prepared.    Jesus  Christ  Himself  waits,  a  helpless,  un- 


130  WHY   I   REJECT 

finished  Savior  of  the  world,  for  the  Church  to  sup- 
plement Him. 

4.  The  qualification  for  membership  in  this  corpor- 
ate Christ  and  Savior  is,  to  be  changed  in  nature,  as 
Jesus  Christ  is  supposed  to  have  been,  from  solely 
human  to  exclusively  divine,  with  no  bodily  or  human 
resurrection. 

5.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary  for  the  aspirant  to 
this  "high  calling"  to  forfeit  now  all  human  as  well 
as  earthly  being,  rights  and  manner  of  life,  yea,  all 
hope  of  "everlasting  life"  as  the  perpetual  duration  of 
perfect  human  existence,  and  to  live  in  consecration  to 
this  "change  of  nature  from  the  human  to  the  divine." 

6.  The  rewards  of  the  Church  are  to  be  immor- 
tality, or  life  in  ourselves — as  self-sustained  perpetually 
as  God  Himself  has  ever  been  or  as  Jesus  Christ  has 
been  (only)  since  His  exaltation — and  the  privilege  of 
conducting  for  the  invisible  Lord  Jesus  the  rulership 
of  the  millennial  age. 

7.  All  this  present  consecrated  life  is  of  our  own 
work,  all  this  future  reward  is  of  our  own  merit,  grace 
consisting  only  in  giving  us  the  chance  to  run  this  race 
for  the  high  calling. 

VII.  THE  ATONEMENT.  He  teaches  the  blasphem- 
ous doctrine  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  alone  is  not 
enough  and  that  the  Church  does  not  need  even  that. 

1.  He  teaches  that  Christ  was  not  the  only  one  that 
could  have  made  atonement  by  dying  for  man,  but  only 


MILLENNIAL  DAWN  131 

that  it  was  most  appropriate  for  Him,  the  highest  of 
all  creatures,  to  be  chosen. 

2.  It  is  claimed  that  it  was  necessary  for  Christ 
to  be  changed  into  a  purely  human  being,  identical 
with  Adam  in  human  perfection — "nothing  less,  noth- 
ing more" — in  order  to  be  a  true  ransom,  "an  exact 
corresponding  price." 

3.  But  it  is  denied  that  Jesus  Christ  as  a  ransom 
had  value  beyond  the  redemption  of  the  one  man, 
Adam.     Yet  all  other  men,  as  the  seed  in  Adam's 
loins,  were  involved  in  Adam's  penalty;  they  also  are 
included,  then,  in  the  purchase  Christ  paid.    Had  they 
needed  individual  purchase,  on  account  of  failing  un- 
der individual  probation,  another  life  would  have  had 
to  be  given  for  each  human  being  as  a  ransom.     We 
can  not  say,  then,  of  Jesus  Christ,  "Who  loved  me,  and 
gave  Himself  for  me." 

4.  It  was  not  the  cross,  the  blood,  the  sufferings, 
or  any  moral  or  spiritual  element  in  Christ's  death,  that 
constituted  or  contributed  to  the  value  of  His  ransom 
price;  it  was  purely  the  dying,  i.e.,  the  extinction  of 
His  being,  that  constituted  the  ransom.    And,  to  make 
that  ransom  complete  and  perpetual  in  effect,  Jesus 
Christ  as  He  died  must  remain  dead  forever.     His 
ransom  for  us  is,  then,  never  paid  up,  it  is  an  ever- 
lastingly deficient  ransom. 

5.  He  teaches  that  the  ransom  made  by  Christ  will 
not  go  into  effect  until  all  men  are  raised  up  for  their 
millennial  probation.     Meantime,  the  Church  now  be- 


132  WHY   I   REJEC± 

ing  called  out,  is  not  a  beneficiary  of  the  blood  of  the 
covenant,  for  she  does  not  need  it.  "The  Church  does 
not  need  a  Mediator"  (Mr.  Russell's  very  words). 

6.  Moreover,  as  "The  Christ"  is  not  personal,  but 
corporate,  including  Jesus  Christ  and  all  His  members, 
so  the  blood  of  the  covenant  is  not  that  of  one,  Jesus 
Christ  alone,  but  that  of  all  the  members  of  His  body 
also,  as  they  suffer,  and  especially  as  they  renounce 
everlasting  perfect  human  life  for  the  afore-mentioned 
high  calling  to  "change  of  nature."  This  denial  of  the 
blood  that  bought  us,  this  mingling  of  the  blood  of 
Millennial  Dawnists  with  that  of  Jesus  to  bring  it  up 
to  par,  is  the  culmination  of  this  system  of  foul  heresy. 

It  remains  only  to  explain  why  this  witches'  cauldron 
of  all  heresies  is  called  "Millennial  Dawn."  It  is  based 
on  Mr.  Russell's  claim  that  the  Millennium  really 
dawned  with  his  "light  now  first  due,"  namely,  in 
1874;  that  for  forty  years  from  that  date  "the  day  of 
the  Lord,"  the  time  of  Christ's  presence  in  overturning 
all  earthly  systems  preparatory  to  the  fully  manifested 
millennial  kingdom,  should  prevail.  (He  denies  the 
visible  return  of  Christ,  or  that  He  will  personally 
judge  and  rule,  asserting  that  this  will  be  done  by  the 
Dawnites,  of  whom  he  is  chief,  through  their  teachings 
and  influence).  All  former  earthly  order  was  to 
terminate  with  1914;  from  which  time  the  Dawnites 
—for  no  others  constitute  "the  Church,  the  body  of 
Christ" — were  to  conduct  earthly  affairs  in  Christ's 
name  for  the  "thousand  years"  now  just  begun. 


REVISED    APRIL    1,    1915 

DESCRIPTIVE  PRICE  LIST  OF   WRITINGS 

By  W.  C.   STEVENS 

Late   Principal   of   the   Missionary   Training   Institute, 
Nyack,  N.  Y. 

BOOKS 

THE  BOOK  OF  DANIEL,  1915,  251  Pages;  Cloth,  50c.  Dedicated 
to  the  fifteen  hundred  students  who  passed  under  the  author's 
teaching  at  Nyack.  Introduction  by  James  M.  Gray,  Dean  of 
Moody  Institute.  A  book  especially  for  this  day  of  world- 
convulsion  and  of  age-crisis.  A  judicious  critic  thus  describes 
the  author's  work:  "His  unfolding  of  the  book  is  the  book's 
unfolding  of  itself." 

MYSTERIES  OF  THE  KINGDOM,  Revised  Edition,  1915,  130 
Pages;  Cloth,  50c;  Paper,  35c.  Introduction  by  Lapsley  A. 
McAfee,  Pastor  of  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Berkeley,  Cal. 
Contains  twelve  chapters  on  as  many  topics  vitally  related 
to  Christ's  Second  Coming,  which  are  treated  in  what  has 
been  declared  by  many  readers  to  be  an  unusually  clear  and 
happy  way.  "Just  what  we  need  for  young  people,"  writes 
one  standing  at  the  center  of  young  people's  work  in  Cali- 
fornia. The  first  chapters  are:  1.  The  Sure  Light  of  Prophecy. 
II.  The  Three  Threes  of  Christ's  Coming.  III.  The  Salvation 
Yet  to  Be  Revealed.  IV.  Occupy  Till  I  Come.  V.  The  Bride 
of  Christ  in  Parable.  VI.  Christ's  Conquest  of  the  Sky. 

TRIUMPHS  OF  THE  CROSS,  Revised  Edition,  1915,  100  Pages; 
Paper,  25c.  Introductory  notes  by  Max  Wood  Moorhead  and 
by  President  Blanchard  of  Wheaton  College.  Treats  of  the 
"deeper  lessons  of  the  Cross."  It  has  proved  to  be  "meat  in 
due  season"  to  many,  and  a  new  edition  has  long  been  called 
for.  Presents  the  triumphs  of  the  Cross  in  relation  succes- 
sively to  The  Law,  Regeneration,  The  World,  Satan,  Sickness, 
Cleansing,  The  Old  Man,  Suffering,  The  Body  of  Christ,  The 
Perishing,  The  Kingdom,  and  Eternal  Ages. 

WHY  I  REJECT  THE  "HELPING  HAND"  OF  MILLENNIAL 
DAWN,  Revised  Edition,  1915,  132  Pages;  Paper,  40c.  Prefa- 
tory Testimonial  by  R.  A.  Torrey,  Dean  of  Bible  Institute  of 
Los  Angeles.  This  is  the  only  book  offered  to  the  public  which 
fully  expounds,  rather  than  merely  declaring,  the  fatal  errors 
of  Millennial  Dawn.  Mr.  Torrey  says:  "I  consider  it,  taking  it 
all  in  all,  as  the  most  satisfactory  reply  to  Pastor  Russell  and 
his  vagaries  that  there  is  to  put  into  the  hand  of  the  every- 
day Christian  who  has  been  at  all  troubled  by  the  false 
teaching  of  Pastor  Russell." 

Add  5c  for  any  book  ordered  by  mall. 

TRACTS 

ARRAIGNMENT     OF     MILLENNIAL     DAWN,     a     Booklet,     5c. 

This  is  the  last  chapter  of  the  above  book  on  Millennial  Dawn, 

and  it  is  intended  for  the  widest  circulation  in  disseminating 

the  things  proved  by  the  exposition  of  the  preceding  chapters. 
PRAYING  IN  THE  HOLY  GHOST,  5c.     Most  highly  commended 

by  one  versed  in  all  prayer  literature  and  in   the   secrets  of 

prayer. 
THE  LORD'S  DAY  NOT  THE  SABBATH,  5c.     Called  "the  best 

thing  on  the  subject"  by  one  whose  name  is  well  known  today. 

A  safeguard  against   Sabbatarianism. 


SANCTIFICATION,  5c.  Entirely  independent  and  distinctive. 
Embraces  and  harmonizes  the  various,  often  conflicting, 
phases  and  theories  on  a  vital  subject. 

THE  INTERMEDIATE  STATE,  3c.  A  clear  Scriptural  and 
philosophical  exposition  which  leaves  no  room  for  soul-sleep- 
ing, annihilation,  etc. 

THE  FALLACY  OF  THE  2520  YEARS,  3c.  Showing  how 
groundless  and  harmful  is  the  modern  theory  that  the  "seven 
times"  measure  2520  years  of  the  "Times  of  the  Gentiles,"  and 
that  the  time  measurements  of  Daniel  and  Revelation  are  to 
be  construed  on  the  principle  of  "each  day  for  a  year." 
Urgently  needed  today. 

THE  LATTER  RAIN,  2c.  Third  edition,  revised;  very  popular 
and  widely  distributed.  Calling  to  expectation  of  increasing 
revival,  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  world-wide  evangeli- 
zation till  Jesus  conies. 

JESUS,  OUR  HEALER,  2c.  Second  edition,  revised;  a  clear 
presentation  of  the  atonement  for  healing.  "Widely  distrib- 
uted and  greatly  used  for  many. 

THE  LORD'S  HEALING,  3c.  Second  edition,  revised;  clearly 
discriminating  Christ's  healing  from  all  other  cures,  and  very 
helpful  to  definite  faith. 

HEALING  IN  THE  NAME  OF  JESUS,  2c.  Especially  designed 
to  explain  the  nature  of  this  healing  and  the  plan  of  its  min- 
istry. 

THE  SALVATION  OF  THE  BODY,  2c.  Brings  out  in  Scrip- 
tural importance  the  reserved  salvation,  "the  redemption  of 
our  body,"  and  shows  its  relation  to  present  supernatural 
healing.  Much  needed  by  all  Christians. 

THE  CROSS  AND  SICKNESS,  2c.  Consists  mainly  of  an  expo- 
sition of  Matt.  8,  1-17,  bringing  forth  the  ground  principles 
from  this  Magna  Charta  of  divine  healing. 

THE  CROSS  AND  CLEANSING,  2c.  An  important  chapter  from 
"Triumphs  of  the  Cross,"  of  special  help  for  seekers  of  heart 
purity. 

THE  CROSS  AND  THE  OLD  MAN,  2c.  Also  from  "Triumphs 
of  the  Cross,"  clearing  up  perplexities  regarding  full  deliver- 
ance through  Christ. 

THE  THREE  THREES  OF  CHRIST'S  SECOND  COMING,  3c. 
Taken  from  "Mysteries  of  the  Kingdom."  Most  useful  for  im- 
mediate illumination  on  the  subject. 

Prices  Per  Dozen:     2c  Tracts,  20c;  3c  Tracts,  30c. 
Add  1c  for  Postage  on  every  one  to  three  Tracts. 

MIMEOGRAPHS 

The  following  are  mimeographed  expositions  of  Scripture 
books,  very  helpful,  but  a  little  expensive  by  mail  because  of 
letter  rates.  Prices  are  reduced  on  that  account.  Price  of  each 
by  mail  is  indicated  by  figures  in  parenthesis: 

GENESIS    1-XI,    12c    (20);    EZRA— ESTHER    12c    (20);    ISAIAH 

20c   (35):   JEREMIAH   12c   (20);    MINOR   PROPHETS   12c   (20); 

ROMANS   20c    (35). 
THE    BIBLE    IN    RELATION    TO    UNIVERSAL    KNOWLEDGE, 

lOc  (15).     A  brochure  of  great  importance  upon  the  subject  of 

the  only  true  method  of  Christian  education. 

Remit  with   orders  to  the   Author, 

W.    C.    STEVENS, 
3129   Twenty-second   Avenue,   Oakland,    Cal. 


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